Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday asked all the State departments to ensure that retirement benefits are given to government employees on the day of their retirement. “You must start collecting all the necessary documents at least two years prior to the retirement of any employee, so there is no confusion after their retirement,” said Das.
The departments will also have to ensure that a retired employee starts getting his monthly pension from a month after his last day at work.
The Chief Minister during his direct interaction (Seedhi Baat) programme on Tuesday solved a pension related problem, pending since 38 years, in less than 15 minutes.
Bokaro’s Upendra Singh, son of a retired government school teacher had been running pillar to post to get his father’s due pension for several years. His deceased father, Brinda Prasad Singh, had served as a teacher from 1966 in Bokaro, a part of erstwhile Bihar. Singh’s pension for his services from 1966 to 1981 was allegedly held back as he worked under the Bihar government then.
“My father was discharged of his duties in 1981 as per a directive of the human resources department, but we are yet to receive his pension for his service period under the Bihar government from 1966 to 1981,” said Upendra.
When Das and government officials questioned the concerned district officials about the matter over video conferencing, they said that the pension will be disbursed within two days after Upendra visits the School Education and Literacy Department’s office with his Aadhaar and PAN card.
The process seemed so simple that some activists and officials attending the Seedhi Baat at Suchna Bhawan found it worth a laugh. However, the fact that deceased Brinda Prasad could not get his pension despite visiting different offices several times highlighted the alleged lackadaisical approach of officials at many such offices.
A total of 16 cases were heard during the Seedhi Baat programme on Tuesday. Most of the cases were related to land disputes, problems faced by farmers, and anomalies in payment of pension.
One of the cases highlighted that around 6,000 farmers from Patratu, who had insured their Kharif crop in 2015, are yet to get the insurance amount claimed after loss of crop. Concerned district officials have said that the insurance company has not disbursed the amount yet.
By now, 3,18,000 cases have been addressed by the Seedhi Baat, Principal Secretary to CM, Sunil Kumar Barnwal said.
After the programme, Das expressed condolences to the family of former Defence Minister George Fernandes. “It is a loss to the entire nation. He was a strong leader and had played crucial role in several movements, including the JP Movement,” said Das.
