Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 3: Addressing a meeting of All India Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies of Pensioners (SCOVA) here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that one of the major achievements of the Narendra Modi Government has been prompt disposal of grievances received from pensioners from across the country and went on to disclose that in a brief period of eight months, as many as 11,390 pension related complaints had been settled by his department.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the present Government has announced a number of innovative measures to make the delivery of pension and related documents much more convenient and less time- consuming. In this context, he referred to the Aadhar based “Jeewan Praman Package” launched by Prime Minister on November 11, 2014 which enables the pensioners to register online their life certificates in digital format. In this way, it eliminates the requirement for an elderly pensioner to physically walk all the way to the concerned authorities to deliver a certificate of his being alive, he said and added that so far as many as 39,000 pensioners have already availed of the facility to submit their life certificates online.
As a part of the significant progressive e-Governance plan, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that the Department of Pensions has started a web-based pensioners’ portal which is expected to serve as one-stop information source for pensioners across the country. The information available on the pensioners’ portal will include pension rules, different pension schemes, orders issued from time to time, pension calculation process, etc., he added.
In order to avoid delays, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, an online pension sanction and payment tracking system called “Bhavishya” has been introduced and so far 25 Ministries and Departments have already been initiated into this system. Similarly, he said, another web-based application called “Sankalpa” has been developed which provides a platform for pensioners to access opportunities available for useful interventions in the society.
Very significantly, Dr. Jitendra Singh referred to enhancement of fixed medical allowance from Rs.300 to Rs.500 per month which became applicable with effect from November 19, 2014. This would help providing financial support to the aging pensioners even after they are superannuated from the Government service, he added.
Secretary Pensions, Govt of India, Alok Rawat and Joint Secretary Vandana Sharma made presentations on the occasion.
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