URGENT NEED FOR REFORMS IN PENSION DISBURSEMENT OF ARMED FORCES PENSIONS

Indian Military Veterans

From: rsrawat1947
To: Sivasankar Vidyasagar

I think a way out needs to be seriously debated, taking the observations given by you & others. Yes, What are DPDOs doing? The collective effort & finances spent by these various agencies be better spent in creating the necessary accretions in the PCDAs to do the needful. In any case all our complaints, whether to the Ministry, Service HQs, CPPCs etc all land up at the PCDA(P) for final resolution. No one in between ie Records or CPPCs can take any action without the auth of PCDA(P). The buck therefore finally stops at the PCAD(P).

Maybe it will be worthwhile to find out how pension of some advanced countries is disbursed. We are working & thinking hemmed by the kind of environment we have been accustomed to.

By no means TSEWA is doing a fine job & I don't have to say so as I am very much a small part of it.  Anyway let us plough on the way it is & the way we have decided to go along. We are getting the results. That matters.

Best rgds

Brig RS Rawat (retd)

President

UESL Uttarakhand

Mob 9760821868

Dear Brig Rawat Sir,

1.    You have the vast experience of dealing with more than 2 lakh defence pensioners living in most remote areas in the state of Uttar Khand. Some of these villages may not have electricity even today. So you are the best person to represent their grievances. If TSEWA can arrive at some method of finding their problems and getting them redressed nothing could be better than this. So keep finding out how TSEWA can help ESMs and Family Pensioners of Uttar Khand. Then that model can be replicated all over India and even in Nepal.

2.     Sir, you need someone representing PCDA (P) Allahabad, PCDA (Navy) Mumbai and Jt CDA (AF), Subrotopark, Delhi in every district. The best place is to accommodate them in Zilla Sainik Welfare Office. Alternately they can be located in Stn HQ. But unfortunately in Southern India we have very few military stations. So to my way of thinking one DAD person be located in each Zilla Sainik Welfare Office to receive grievances of all ESMs and Family pensioners. It must be his responsibility to project it through e-mails to the concerned PSAs and get suitable reply. This way DAD person in Zilla Sainik Welfare Office will be able to render maximum service to ESMs and Family Pensioners.

3.   There is no need for DPDOs and these personnel can be redistributed to Zill Sainik Welfare Offices. This way PSAs can be coming closer to the ESMs and Family Pensioners. Since most of ESMs and Family pensioners do go to Zilla Sainik Welfare Offices which are generally co-located in Dist HQs and also CSD (in military stations or where NCC units are located) all works pertaining to ESMs can be done at one location.

4.    My second suggestion is unless we have stake holders in the decision making nothing is going to improve. We must pitch for having 50% ESMs and family pensioners on contract basis for a period of five years extended by another five years to be employed in all PSAs. PSAs must also have component of serving soldiers who should know what awaits them when they hang their uniform. This should not be a problem for each service to keep few serving officers, JCOs and OR who are LMCs in these PSAs who act as bridge between Record Offices, PSAs and Zilla Sainik Welfare Offices.

4.   Your mail is getting good response from ESMs. Once we get better solution, I will try to send it as a concept paper after getting it edited by you to Ministry of Defence.

Regards,

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)

9493191380

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Dear Brig Rawat Sir,

I must compliment you on your excellent observations and comments on the present situation which I can describe as Sorry State of Affairs.

There are many ESM rallies held by Sub Areas and Areas. I have not seen any grievance getting redressed.

Reason: Fmn HQs treat Ex-Servicemen and Family pensioners as burden and they do not have manpower to look after us. Banks blame PSAs, PSAs blame Record Offices & Service HQs. This blame game goes on.

PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad got a dedicated SANGAM cell to generate Corr PPOs of 6th CPCs new pension. Till today there are lakhs of defence pensioners who have not yet been issued Corr PPOs showing pension as on Jan 2006 & 24 Sep 2012. JWO Milan Das is getting these Corr PPOs from PSAs by lodging complaints with Min of PPP &G. Has anyone asked PCDA(P) Allahabd why his office could not issue Corr PPOs when all other ministries completed issue of Corr PPOs of 6th CPC many many years back? Min of Def does not crack the whip. But if minor transgression takes place, Min of Def does not hesitate to ask for an explanation from Service HQ. When PSAs do not function they are not questioned.

The CGDA proposed to have Central Pension Disbursing Agency (CPDA) to perform the role of PDAs i.e. banks, Treasury Office and DPDOs. The pension will be calculated by this agency centrally for all pensioners of three services and pensions will be credited into individual pensioner's account held in the banks through NEFT. Very laudable. Will it work?

My only apprehension is it is OK to save about Rs 195 crores per annum being paid to various PDAs @ Rs 65 per entry with maximum 14 entries per year per pensioner.

Sir, just imagine who will do it? Will the man power, equipment and other resources to prepare list of 24.5 lakh pensioners with PPOs of each one of them, send pension to 24.5 lakh pension accounts every month be carried without any additional manpower? My guess definitely is NO. I guess it will be another white elephant with few more IDAS offrs who know very little of defence accounts, battalions of SAOs and AOs will be sanctioned over and above their existing strength to do this CPDA job. It is to my view spreading tentacles.

If present PCDA (O) Pune can work out, generate pay slips of 42,000 officers every month why cannot these PSAs do the job themselves instead of asking banks to work out pensions and pension arrears? Do not these 65 DPDOs (manned by DAD persons) calculate pensions for whom they are PDAs? Abolish all of these DPDOs and bring them under CPDA. You will save lot of money. DPDO was a British concept when you did not have elaborate banking system in those days. Do you need them today?

Even today many re-employed officers in the period 1986 to 2005 did not get their rank pay arrears from whom rank pay in re-employed period was deducted. It is already11 years but PCDA (Pensions) Allahabad cannot give pension fixed for such officers when they superannuated from service as their pension has to be deducted to fix basic pay during re-employment by PCDA(O) Pune. PCDA(O) Pune blames PCDA (P) Allahabad for not giving information. PCDA (P) Allahabad pretends they do not know what the issue all about is. If PCDA (O) Pune is really interested then cannot he send a senior IDAS officer to PCDA (P) Allahabad to collect information like we do in Army and then carry out working the rank pay arrears of these re-employed officers? They do not move their back side and would not like to stir out of Pune. This is the interaction and co-operation between two PCDAs.

I want to file RTA query to seek this kind of information. But I get too busy in replying to large number of mails I receive every day. Unfortunately we have very few dedicated veterans like JWO Milan Das who can file RTA. TSEWA reimburse any expenditure on filing RTS on line. By getting such information we can shame these shameless DAD fellows.

Sir, it is lack of accountability that is bane of all ills. Someone has to crack a whip to make these laggards to start working.

Unless you employ some outsiders (preferably Ex-Servicemen) on contract basis in these PSAS with clear delineation of responsibilities nothing is going to improve.

I sincerely hope if JWO Milan Das continues to file 15 to 20 complaints a day against PSAs for non-remittance of OROP arrears, then only these lazy guys will wake up.

If I were PCDA (P) Allahabad, I will sit in front of computer and start working on 7th CPC arrears with a simple MS Excel (being not a programmer). Once Govt’s approval comes in a jiffy I will make tables for all ranks so that there is no delay in remittance of 7^th CPC arrears. You have to have will to do anything.

You just need data and software will do everything. We can get best software for a price as low as Rs 50,000. Cannot PCDA (P) Allahabad spend that much money to get software for arrears calculation if they do not have in-house IT skills to develope software.

Even DGIT of Army can make these softwares on various types of pensions & arrears. He can give it free to PSAs. But who will take initiative to get these things done?

If it is a question of BC or SC or ST or Minority issue then everything will be sorted out in no time. A number of questions will be raised in Parliament. NHRC, SC Commision, ST Commission, Minority Commission will swing into action. News papers and TV channels blare it as Breaking News if a minor incident happens. But since ESMs are not consolidated vote bank, none of these organisations do not take us seriously.

In my view TSEWA should plough a lone furrow and make these softwares made spending money for arrears of 7^th CPC, 33 years rule to get full pension abolished. I consider some money spent on these real welfare programmes is not a waste. The 6^thCPC and OROP arrears software is getting lot of credit to TSEWA. Let us see how thing pan out in the near and distant future. 

regards,

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
9493191380

(SOURCE- VIA GP E-MAIL)