Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government looks pensioners in the country as an asset and not a liability as he inaugurated the maiden 'Pension Adalat' and the National Pension System awareness and grievance redressal programme here.
The programme was conducted by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Singh also launched "Do You Know" Twitter Series on Family Pension, along with a booklet highlighting case studies with interpretation of pension rules.
"The retired population is increasing in the country and it is in national interest to channelise their energies in a positive manner as this government takes them as an asset and not as a liability. There should be a smooth transition from their active life to retired life," the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office said.
Singh said this is the first time that Pension Adalat is being conducted outside Delhi as the government wants to reach every part of the country to get the pensioner's grievances redressed in real-time as aspired by the prime minister.
He said the pension adalats will help in on-the-spot redressal of pensioners' grievances which has given the "right of ease of living" to the pensioners.
Singh also said Modi has directed that pensioners be provided a hassle-free administrative system to resolve their grievances.
He said the grievance redressal system was "quite neglected" before 2014 but the day the present government has taken to power, it has "completely changed".
"The grievances have increased manifold from two lakhs to 20 lakhs which is an evidence that the people have a complete faith in the present government. The present government has a grievance redressal rate from 95 per cent to 100 per cent per week and the pension Adalat started a few years ago is proof of it," he said.
The minister also said a number of reforms have been undertaken by the government to facilitate the pensioners.
He said one of the main initiatives taken was to fix the minimum pension at Rs 1,000.
Other initiatives such as Bhavishya, Sankalp, Jeevan Pramaan-digital life certificates, doing away with the obsolete laws and self-attestation, among others have also been taken, he added.
Singh said that a real-time portal, a dash board for the security personnel and a toll free number started by the government is proof that the present government is serious towards the welfare of the employees -- serving, retiring and retired.
Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, Kshatrapati Shivaji, in his address, said the aim of the department is to provide a social security and a distinguished social life to the pensioners post-retirement.
The pension adalats are being convened with the objective of bringing on a common table the aggrieved pensioner, the concerned department, the bank or CGHS representative, wherever relevant, so that such cases can be settled across the table within the framework of extant rules, he said.
In the Pension Adalat, 342 cases pertaining to the Central government pensioners of various departments and ministries were discussed and subsequently 289 such cases were settled on the spot.
The 53 pending cases were asked to be processed and settled within 15 days by the concerned departments, an official said.
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