Lok Sabha Question No. 4023 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-17
Subject: Difficulties faced by Pensioners
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: Sunil Kumar Pintu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PENSION AND PENSIONERS' WELFARE)

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4023 (TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.07.2019)

## DIFFICULTIES FACED BY PENSIONERS

## †4023. SHRI SUNIL KUMAR PINTU:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the pensioners in the country have to face several difficulties due to discrepancies  in  the  pension  of  retired  employees,  social  security  pension  and  nonavailability of a proper forum for timely redressal of their problem;
- (b) if so, whether easy and simplified measures are being taken to resolve these discrepancies; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) to (c): A number of steps have been taken in the recent years to streamline and strengthen the  pension  sanctioning  and  payment  system.  Department  of  Pension  &  Pensioners'  Welfare launched Bhavishya - an online tracking system for pension sanction and payment. By keeping track  of  the  progress  as  well  as  close  monitoring      of  each  pension  case,  it  introduces transparency  and  accountability  into  the  system  thereby  plugging  delays.  This  system  is  at present  being  successfully  implemented  in  the  main  Secretariat  of  93  Ministries/Departments including 791 Attached Offices.

The  following measures  have  been  taken by various departments/ agencies to strengthen the redressal system in respect of pension related grievances:

- 1) Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW) w.r.t. Central Government Civil Pensioners :
2.  CPENGRAMS is a Centralized Web-enabled Pension Grievance Redress and Monitoring System  which  was  started  in  2007  for  speedy  redressal  and  effective  monitoring  of pension related grievances of pensioners.
3.  It has the following facilities: -
4.  Registration of pension grievances available 24*7 basis
5.  Forwarding of reminders to the concerned Ministries/Departments
6.  Enquiry on status of registered grievance
7.  Online disposal of grievances by the concerned Ministry/ Department.

-  A new Call Centre with toll free number (1800-11-1960) has been launched on June 20, 2019 for pensioners for greater ease of registering grievances.
-  A Mobile App of the Department is also available for lodging of grievances.
-  The Department has also conducted 'All India Pension Adalat' on 18 September, 2018 in which 9368 pensioners' grievances were resolved on the spot.
- 2) Central Pension  Accounting  Office  (CPAO)  w.r.t.  central government  civil pensioners: Under Digital  India Campaign, CPAO took two important steps towards empowerment of central government civil pensioners which are as follows:-
-  Electronic Pension Payment Order (e-PPO) was launched on 01.03.2018 and paperless movement of digitally signed Electronic Special Seal Authority (e-SSA) from CPAO to 39 Central Pension Processing Centers (CPPCs) is in operation and all the CPPCs are getting  digitally  signed  Special  Seal  Authority  (SSA)  as  well  as  the  pension  revision cases. This has led to faster processing of payment of pension and clerical errors have been reduced.
-  Web  Responsive  Pensioners'  Service  (WRPS)  is  an  IT  initiative  of  CPAO  for  the pensioners which provides various services including pension payment information for last  24  months,  online  pension  process  tracking  &  online  grievance  registration  and redressal with facility to track the status of grievance.

## 3) Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) w.r.t. Defence Pensioners:

-  A dedicated  Call  centre  in  PCDA(P),  Allahabad  has  been  established  with  Toll  free number  1800-180-5325  where  ex-servicemen  can  get  their  queries  resolved  over  the phone.
-  Pension  enquiry  system  named  Project  'Suvigya'  is  available  on  the  Internet  which enables pensioner to check their entitlements.
-  In  order  to  expedite  redressal  of  grievance  of  Defence  Pensioners,  DPDOs  hold Defence Pension Adalats on last working day of each month.
-  Implementation  of  digitally  signed  e-PPOs  for  all  categories  of  Pensioners  which eliminates the time taken for dispatch and possibility of loss in transit.

## 4) Department of Telecommunication w.r.t  Telecom Pensioners:

-  Toll  Free  Number  (18004250089)  is  available  during  working  hours  for  lodging grievances.
-  Quarterly  Pension  Adalat  is  conducted  for  all  Telecom  pensioners  in  Kerala  and  the same is publicized widely to reach all Telecom pensioners.
-  Grievances raised in CPGRAMS Portal are addressed within 30 days.

## 5) Department of Posts w.r.t Postal pensioners:

-  Pension  disbursement  has  been  automated  which  obviates  the  possibility  of  any grievances.
-  The pensioners may approach at Post Office level, Division/Regional Office/PMG/CPMG level and Postal Directorate level to solve their problems.
-  Pension Adalats are also being organized time to time at circle/state level for redressal of grievances of pensioners.

- 6) Ministry  of  Rural  Development  w.r.t.  National  Social  Assistance  Programme (NSAP):
2.  National  Social  Assistance  Programme(NSAP)  is  a  social  welfare/  social  security scheme, implemented in rural as well as urban areas of the Country. The schemes of NSAP  are  only  applicable  to  the  persons  belonging  to  Below  Poverty  Line(BPL) households. The identification of beneficiaries, sanction and disbursement of pensions are made   by the States/UTs. The NSAP  Guidelines  provides for setting up of grievance redressal  system  at  the  Gram  /  Intermediate  Panchayat  /  District  / Municipality  levels,  and  designate  an  officer  of  appropriate  seniority  to  whom  the grievances can be addressed along with the timelines for dealing with grievances under intimation  to  the  complainant.   Furthermore,  Guidelines  also  have  the  provision  for periodically Social Audits. In addition, for effective  implementation  of  NSAP, information technology interface has been strengthened. With this initiative, list of the beneficiaries  has  been  completely  digitized  and  against  over  15  crore  transactions through  Direct  Benefit  Transfer(DBT)  mode  recorded  in  Financial  Year  2017-18, during 2018-19, 21.27 crore DBT transactions have been reported by the States/ Union Territories.

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