The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh chaired the 31st meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA), here today. The SCOVA meeting was organised by the Department of Pensions & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.
During the meeting, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the SCOVA has gone a long way in addressing issues related to Pensioners in a focused manner. He said that today’s interaction was very meaningful and thus reflecting on the working of DoP&PW.
Dr Jitendra Singh while listening the grievances of the pensioners assured them of timely redressal of their problems and said that Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is very much caring towards resolving the pensioners’ issues. He said that the Government is totally aware about the sensitivities related to the pensioners’ demands and is bound to resolve them.
The Minister also emphasized on maximum digitization of the documentation process dealing with pensioners’ cases. He said that the Department of Pensions has already digitalized the process of providing the life certificate by pensioners and other documents. He said that we have started Pension Adalats through video conferencing and started the Pensioners’ Portal where one can easily check the PPO status, thus optimizing the use of technology for the welfare of the pensioners.
While addressing the meeting, the Minister said that retired persons are an asset to the society and the country needs to evolve a mechanism to make good use of their knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees, which can help in the value addition to the current scenario. Dr. Jitendra Singh said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce for India and we need to streamline and channelize their energies in a productive direction. He said that the retired person should do counseling for pensioners in his respective field of expertise. We should learn from the pensioners’ experience and the DoP&PW should be reoriented in such a way that pensioners become a part of nation building process.
On the demand of the SCOVA members, the Minister agreed to hold its meeting bi-annually instead of once a year. The Minister also directed for the prompt and time bound redressal of the grievances of the pensioners and said that we should have sympathetic attitude towards them.
In the meeting, discussions were held on the action taken report of the 30th SCOVA meeting. Further many issues related to pensioners were discussed threadbare, such as revision Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners including those residing in non-CGHS area, Extension of CGHS facilities to P&T pensioners etc. Out of the 31 cases came for redressal, 8 have been closed positively.
In his welcome address, Secretary, DoP&PW, Shri K.V. Eapen appreciated the sincerity and work done by the department towards mitigating the grievances of the pensioners and taking action on the 80 percent of issues raised in the 30th SCOVA meeting. He also mentioned about the huge attendance of pensioners during the Pension Adalats conducted across the country. He said that interaction process between the Government Departments and Pensioners has increased manifold with the use of technology.
The Joint Secretary (Pension) Shri Sanjiv Narain Mathur and other senior officers of the department were also present on the occasion. The meeting was also attended by the member, Pensioners Associations and senior officers of the important Ministries/Departments of Government of India.
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