Defence pensioners not being paid correct amount of pension- Gagandeep Ahuja Punjab News Online: Vet. Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Defence pensioners not being paid correct amount of pension, alleges association. Gagandeep Ahuja
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
PATIALA: Ex-Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen Association has detected during, a survey held in last month, that a number of defence pensioners, particularly family pensioners, were not being paid correct amount of pension and there are glaring discrepancies in some cases.
Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd. President, Ex. Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen Association said in a press release that in one such case, Rajinder Kaur, War Widow of Flt. Lt. Gurbax Singh, a General Duty Pilot and War Hero of 1965- War fame, was noticed of being paid a pension of Rs. 3500/- only without element of D.A. i.e. less than an Ordinary Pension of a Sepoy's widow instead of Liberalized Pension of Flt. Lt. (War Causality). Her husband was killed in action on 9th September, 1965 during the war with Pakistan.This case involved the negligencey on the part of Pension Sanctioning Authority i.e. PCDA (Pension, Allahabad) and then Pension Disbursing Authority i.e. State Bank of Patiala, Dharampura Br. Patiala which failed to pay her D.A. on the meager pension, erroneously, granted to her by PCDA (Pension), for the last about four decades.The Association immediately took up the case of payment of D.A. on present pension, with P.D.A. i.e. SBOP, Patiala and got the error rectified, to a great relief resulting in to payment of huge amount of arrear to the widow.
The case of enhanced pension to the war widow, Rajinder Kaur, is being taken up by the Association with PCDA, (Pension) Allahabad, along with another case of Stoppage of Service Pension of to Chief Petty Officer, Jaswant Singh, whose pension was stopped by Treasury Officer, Faridkot, the then Pension Disbursing Authority, in year 1974. The Ex-servicemen, who is above 70 years old now, drew his pension for one year and went abroad and returned after ten years to find his pension stopped. He requested his PDA to get his pension restored as per the law but got no response. He then tried his best for about twenty years by writing to various authorities related with the pension but of no avail. During this period his PDA i.e. Treasury Officer, Faridkot misplaced his pension record and washed his hands by making an entry in the pension register that his pension papers were dispatched to PSB. Since then the ex-serviceman is running from pillar to post and writing every one who could help him.
Now he has approached this Association for help to get his pension restored. The Association is planning to take up both these cases with the Pension Adalat going to be held in the month of July, 2010 at Pathankot and to write to the concerned authorities in due course.Earlier the organization helped Late. Sub.Sher Singh of Patiala and Late. Ranjit Kaur of Amloh to get them the correct amount of pansion. Late. Sub. Sher Singh of State Forces was being paid Sepoy's pension since long. He got relief through the Association, though belated i.e. a month prior to his deathSimilarly Smt. Ranjit Kaur, widow of Sub. Gurdial Singh, was also being paid the pension of Sepoy's widow which was got enhanced by the Association, that too at the fag end of her life, about two months before her deathThe Association is planning to conduct a detailed survey during the next six months in Punjab through its block level functionaries and submit a consolidated report to Director, (Pension), Deptt. of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Govt. of India, New Delhi.