Sir,
The pensioners in Jammu and Kashmir suffer on many counts because the Government does not seem much bothered about them. The genuine demands of pensioners are:
*Being more prone and susceptible to health hazards due to advanced age the pensioners require more health care and medical treatment at frequent intervals and as such they deserve more medical allowance than others. Therefore, they entitled to a minimum medical allowance of Rs. 3000 per month which the Govt must not hesitate to provide.
* The demands of the pensioners that pension be fixed with the formula of equal pension for equal rank as is applicable to the army personnel, is quite genuine and entertainable. How strange that a Lecturer/ Doctor/ KAS Officer or IAS Officer who would have retired in 2005 or just before the 6th pay commission came into force, gets not even one half of the pension what his counterparts of the same rank after his retirement, just after the 6th pay commission in 2006 gets. Both have retired in the same cadre and are facing the same tough times of inflation and dearness to eke out a living after retirement in these hard times. Even the 7th pay commission has also recommended One Rank and One Pension as per the latest pay scale which is really a justice in true sense to be implemented in letter and spirit at the earliest.
*Beyond the age of 75 years the pensioners must get 10 percent hike in their basic pension and after every 10 years this must be carried on accordingly.
*The installments of pension arrears must be given in one go to pensioners to benefits them like the legislators and the law makers who had been given the arrears in lump sum.
*There should be a provision of separate/ exclusive counters for the pensioners and senior citizens in treasuries, banks and hospitals where they have very often to go for collection of pension or for consulting doctors in the hospitals where they are faced with acute frustration due to rush of younger people who push them out of lines without caring a fig for them and thus they are at the mercy of none.
It is requested to the Chief Minister of J&K Govt to solve the problems of the pensioners without any hiccup at the earliest possible.
Yours etc….
Er J R Aryan
Jammu