The Secretary for Telecommunication & Chairman, Digital Communications Commission (DCC), K Rajaraman inaugurated the All India Digital Nation-Wide Pension Adalat organised by the Controller General of Communication Accounts (CGCA), on March 23. Dilip Padhye, Member (Finance), DCC was also present at the occasion with 28 Principal Controllers of Communication Accounts (CCA)/CCA/Joint CCA across India, promoting the motto of “Pensioners Delight” to resolve pensioner’s grievance. The move is aimed to give impetus to PM Narendra Modi’s vision of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance”.
On the occasion, the Secretary observed that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been a pioneer with regards to Pension settlement and grievance redressal, and 28 field units of Principal CCA/CCA/Joint CCA of DoT cater to about 4.5 lakh pensioners across the country. Pension-related issues for pensioners are always sensitive in nature and we have to ensure that we deal with them in a compassionate way, we did that during the difficult phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the prescribed standard of CPGRAMs for resolving the grievance of a senior citizen is a maximum of 30 days and a normal grievance is 45 days. But, we have set a personal standard of resolution within 30 days.
He also praised SAMPANN-CPMS, which provides a paperless, cashless, and faceless pensioners’ service across the country, especially in rural and remote parts of India. Pensioners can, not only lodge their grievances but also monitor, track and get them resolved, all through SAMPANN application from the comfort of their home. SAMPANN-CPMS was dedicated to the nation by the Honorable Prime Minister on 29th December 2018.
Member (Finance) briefed about the initiative of Pension Adalat being conducted regularly by the DoT field units. They serve as a forum for mitigating the grievances of the pensioners by bringing in all the relevant stakeholders under one single platform. He added that the last Digital National Pension Adalat was held on 24 November 2020 through virtual mode and a total of 624 cases were taken up by respective CCA offices and 90 per cent of the cases were disposed of on the day of Pension Adalat itself. For today’s Adalat a total of 353 shortlisted cases have been received from Pensioners across all field units.
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He highlighted some of the initiatives taken up by field units like PRACHI (Pensioners Issues Redressal, Assistance and Care at Home Initiative), Drive-In Digital Life certificate submission, dedicated toll-free helpline, social media applications like WhatsApp/website, and also a dedicated grievance redressal officer in each office. As a constant endeavor, several field units have been awarded ISO certification for maintaining and achieving the prescribed best practices towards pension disbursement, settlement, and redressal of grievances. He enthused all the units to strive towards, delivering our best efforts with regard to settlement and disposal of grievance as per the vision of our Hon’ble MoC and the goal of our Secretary.
He mentioned that though the nodal Ministry emphasises conducting a National Pension Adalat, the field units as a special initiative in reaching out to the Pensioners have been conducting Quarterly Pension Adalats. Apart from the above, several offices have also initiated the conduct of localised Pension Adalats, considering the age and geographical barriers.
(With inputs from PIB)