80,000 elderly get $2.2M in pensions every month in T&T

File: Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh gives a wheelchair to an appreciative senior 

Eighty thousand persons in Trinidad & Tobago receive old age pensions amounting to $2.2 million per month.

People Minister Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh revealed the amount Friday at his Ministry's Staff Appreciation Luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. He also said  the ministry invested $3 million last year on poverty reduction projects.

He noted that much of the work is of his staff - which is about 1,000 - is devoted to reducing poverty.

He gave some other statistics for 2012:

1. 120 street dwellers removed
2. 25,000 citizens benefited from Public Assistance Grants

Ramadharsingh said, "As a Ministry designed by the people and for the people, you are the persons who turn the vision and mission of this Government into a reality...(for) so many people in Trinidad and Tobago."

He congratulated his employees for their hard work and urged them to continue to serve the most vulnerable."We must increase social inclusion in Trinidad and Tobago like never before. Then we will pay increased attention to single parents. We will hold out a branch to them through MOM-D, which is Mentoring Our Moms and Dads," the minister said.