V Srinivas, IAS, Secretary, (P&PW) Visits PCDA (SC) Pune

Pune, 22nd July 2023: V Srinivas, IAS, Secretary to GoI, Dept.of Pension and Pensioner’s Welfare, New Delhi visited the Office of PCDA (SC), PUNE on dated 21st July, 2023.

As a part of outreach program to Pensioners’, the Hon’ble Secretary alongwith Sanjiv Mathur, Addl. Secretary (DoPPW) had an interaction with the members of two Pensioner’s Welfare Associations viz. Defence Accounts Pensioners’ Association, Pune and All India Central Government Pensioners’ Association, Pune and High Level Officers of five Pension Disbursing Banks viz. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Canara Bank. 

The event was hosted by Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA(SC), Pune. Most respectable Shri. V Srinivas IAS Secretary to GOI was greeted with a warm welcome by presenting him with a floral bouquet

After the ceremonial welcome by PCDA (SC), Pune Shri. V Srinivas garlanded the bust of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi echoing the message and sentiments of Mahatmaji to serve the nation and countrymen selflessly and proceeded to plant a sapling in the lush green lawns of the Lotus Garden near Mahatma Phule’s bust and carried the tradition of PCDA (SC) of protecting environment and promoting green living. 

The Secretary then visited the ‘Heritage Museum’ in the entrance hall of PCDA(SC), Pune. He expressed his astonishment after witnessing the collection of British Antiquities viz Manual Calculator, Antique weighing machine, Ancient lamp as well as flags of USA, Pre-Communist China and The Union Jack dating back to hundreds of years. Glancing through the old handwritten manuscripts esp by Sir Winston Churchill dating back to Afghan War in 1919, Hon’ble Secretary remarked this experience as walking into history itself.

The Secretary and the Addl. Secretary alongwith Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA attended the Interactive Open house session / Program. The delegates who graced the occasion included Shri K. Shankar, PCDA (retd) & Patron, DAPA, Pune, Smt Rajalakshmi Devarajan, President, DAPA, Pune, Shri Waman S. Bhome, President, AICGPA, Pune, Shri H.F.Choudhary, General Secretary, AICGPA, Pune and others. Smt. Nimita Sharma, AGM, SBI, Shri Satish Kumar, DGM, SBI, Ms. Anjana, Punjab National Bank, Shri Sandeep Khankal, Sr.Mgr, PNB, Shri Chandan Kumar Choudhary, AGM, Canara Bank, Shri Atul Bansal, AGM, Canara Bank, Shri Anand Jaiswal, DGM, Bank of Maharashtra, Shri Sanjay Joshi, Ch.Mgr, BoM, Shri Nitin Jamnik and Shri Kishor Akulwar from Bank of Baroda also took part during the Interaction & deliberation.

Shri S.N. Mathur, Addl. Secretary explained about the various Outreach programmes conducted by Dept. of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare which is active and robust in helping out and assisting the retired employees of GoI.to get their terminal benefits in time and accurately with minimum complaints.

This was followed by an introductory address by delegates present as well as achievements of their organizations which notably included Dearness Relief for Pensioners as well as the famous Nakra Judgement through which the provision of family pension was proposed for first time. 

Through this Outreach and Open house with Pensioners and Associations the issues such as mailing of form 16 via emails rather than visiting bank branches physically also suggestions on providing secured services in hinterlands digitally were submitted & discussed threadbare 

Following the interactive session Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA (SC) delivered his energetic speech thanking the Hon’ble Secretary for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to visit the Office of PCDA (SC), Pune and beating all odds of bad weather incessant rains and storm to come to the paradise of pensioners to solve and settle their pension Blues thus showing his care concern and connect for redressal of their grievances A noble deed for those who genuinely need .He expressed his gratitude for the door delivery of the services to the Sr Citizens by the Ministry on general and Deptt of P & PW in particular.

He further extended his sincere gratefulness to Shri S N Mathur, Addl Secretary, who also happen to be his batchmate, Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA (SC) appreciated his work for the pensioners and assisting the Secretary in carrying out the noble mission to its finality in a befitting manner successfully. 

Expressing his views on Pensioners Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA (SC) reminded the audience that they all as government servants have to retire one day and become pensioners after which they will lose all of their perks facility and entitlements which is an inevitable part of life hence one must try to inculcate imbibe and infuse the atmanirbharta and swah kanban curtailing the overt dependency on others to do ones own job by oneself . For this, he advised all to follow a life of asceticm simplicity frugality and austerity. He also advised the Senior Bankers to serve the populace with love, care concession and affection which is sadly wanting in todays times.because of workload lack of facilities incentives stress strain of daily grind and difficult postings 

The PCDA thanked all the Association Members present praising their sincere efforts in preserving and fighting for the rights of the Retired Government Servants who are the most neglected and helping them in times of dire needs. With their own entitlements remuneration in time with ease without any hassle He extended a special thanks to Shri H.B. Daware, Vice President, DAPA, Pune, who helped pensioners by visiting them in ICUs as well as carrying out numerous Door to Door DLC Campaigns.

Stressing on the number of Serving Central Government employees which stands at 1 Crore. PCDA appraised the audience that Defence pensioners are 33 lakhs as on date He further told that DAD has designed a Portal named SPARSH launched on 1st July, 2021 which is a web based system for pension and holds the achievement of clearing pension claims within 48 hours compared to 180 days 22 lakhs pensioners are now being paid through the SPARSH The remaining 10 lakhs will be taken on board by the end of August he further added.

Exploring the opportunities available with SPARSH, PCDA (SC) promised to use these portals for promotional educational purposes also for the welfare of JCO / ORs who are unaware about their entitlements 

Echoing the mantra of Samvedna, Sayahta Satarkta, Sheelta ,Suraksha Santhavna Santosh etc PCDA(SC), Pune emphasises upon the need to make aware and sensitise the retiring employees masses on investment in finance plans and obtaining proper insurance cover for their health and family welfare He explained the various pension plans and praised the sincere efforts done in creating awareness by a cooperative partnership between different Banks and Government departments such as PLI workshop in PCDA(SC) campus which was organized in close association with Ministry of Telecommunication, Dept. of Post, GPO, Pune and PCDA(SC), Pune.and other gestures and measures.

Appreciating the CGHS scheme and opening up of one dispensary in one of the Housing Complex of DAD and also touching on the unity and linkage part of the cooperation coordination synergy course correction of different establishment and its functioning he highlighted to work togather in tandem and not go in isolation.

He further advise the gathering by saying that “It is now the time to act and not react. Promoting the bond of kinship and forging a bond of companionship he stressed the necessity of working on ‘we’ mentality rather than ‘I’.”

Following PCDA(SC) address Chief Guest of the occasion Srinivas,IAS, Secretary began his keynote address with a thankful note to PCDA(SC), Pune and appreciating the sheer majesty and magnificence of the premises and describing his tour as a ‘Walk through History’. 

Speaking on the interaction the most respectable Secretary expressed his happiness over the highly aware educated audience and gentry with whom he got the chance to interact with, Emphasizing on the various initiatives taken by DoP&PW for pensioners such as life of dignity post pension, making the process of Jeevan Pramaan simple, reducing interface between government and pensioners, face recognition system, SBI’s Sewa app which is an end to end digital app for pensioners.He enlightened the house with very measures taken and instituted by the Deptt for prompt accurate error free grievance sans delivery of pensionary services at the door steps to the stake holders 

While speaking on the upcoming projects which included redefining how pensioners welfare associations are interacting with the Government, Stronger collaboration between Banks and Pensioners as well as knowledge dissemination, and streamlining system in healthcare systems and digitization of health records which will result in seamless transition of records across states.

Remembering and appreciating the efforts of Smt. Ramanjeet Kaur, Under Secretary who has been an indispensible part of the campaigns of the department, he reminded that she once sent a photo of a pensioner 100 years old while in a camp in Punjab.

During his address he assured the audience of the issues raised especially one by BSNL for which the decision is awaited from Honable Supreme Court of India as well as issues of heirship and Succession Certificates and promised for a deeper study and dissection on simplifying process,procedure and norms appreciating the SPARSH portal as well as Pension Adalat in solving the pension cases such as one case of Jasodhan Dev whose case was solved by Pension Adalat and gave her the Extraordinary pension instead of Ordinary pension as well as outstanding amount of 17 lakhs was reimbursed to her.

He requested everybody to flag the pending cases to Pension Adalatas to get them resolved.

Following the address the Chief Guest proceeded to the chamber of PCDA(SC) and inaugurated educational Handbooks ‘KSHIPRA’ & ‘KSHIPRA 2.0 (Knowledge Sharing: PBORs-Pay and Allowances)’ digitally as well as physically. These books were made to educate and create awareness about Pay and Allowances and Entitlements of JCOs/PBORs. 

After the digital inauguration a presentation on KSHIPRA was given by Dr. Rajeev Chavan, IDAS, ndc, PCDA(SC) whereby he elaborated on the initiative i.e. KSHIPRA an audio video cum Handbook series, which traces its origin and genesis in the office of PCDA (SC) PUNE. 

KSHIPRA series which is an in-house production of PCDA (SC) Pune, is especially designed to educate the JCOs/PBORs on their respective entitlements. KSHIPRA 1.0 is a collection of 25 educational audio/ video, which was made with the basic objective to educate Govt. Officials on prompt, accurate, correct and errorfree publication of DO-II to minimize rejections of DO-II, while KSHIPRA 2.0 a collection of 51 allowances, was designed to educate Jawans and simultaneously create awareness about their entitlements from recruitment till superannuation. In continuation of KSHIPRA series, KSHIPRA 3.0 skits and role-plays are made to educate the PBORs in more simplistic, easy and interactive ways and are provided in Hindi which would help in pictographic depiction.

The Secretary congratulated Madhu Gandhi, SAO who was instrumental in design and execution of the KSHIPRA project and under whose guidance all videos were recorded and script was made. He advised to circulate these Videos to all Army Armys/formations of Indian Army as well as upload the same on Twitter, You Tube and all Digital sites of GOI.

Following the presentation, Shri V Srinivas, IAS, Secretary to GoI was felicitated with a memento as a token of regard and respect and a sapling resembling PCDA (SC) Pune’s efforts towards protecting environment and staying green which was followed by Shri V Srinivas inscribing and scripting mentioning his experience in the Visitor’s Book with a promise to visit PCDA (SC), Pune again.