Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein on Monday directed the heads of government departments (HoDs) to clear all pending pension cases of their respective departments by May 31 next.
“The retired government employees who have served the state for more than 30 years should not be made to suffer or run pillar to post for their pensions. Such situations cause financial hardships, especially to those falling in the groups C and D posts,” Mein said.
The deputy chief minister was addressing a meeting related to superannuation at the civil secretariat here.
Mein accordingly directed the departmental heads to take up pension cases on priority and cleared all of them without any delay.
The HoDs were also asked to open pension cells in their respective departments and place a dedicated and experienced staff, specifically to deal with the pension cases.
Mein, during the meeting also directed the HoDs to communicate the name of nodal officers to the directorate of audit and pension within 15 days and to ensure that all the government employees verify their service book within this month.
The departmental heads were also asked to conduct monthly review meetings on pension cases.
398 cases pending:
Earlier, audit and pension director K Ronya informed that a total of 398 pension cases are pending in the department.
He said the main cause of delay in clearing the pensions were non-submission of completed pension papers by the departments, improper fixation of pay scale in accordance with the promotion, pay enhancements and increments, etc.
Ronya requested the HoDs to opt for initial pay statement (IPS) checks at regular intervals and clear all pension related documents of their employees, at least 4-6 months before their retirement.
He assured that pension matters can be cleared by the directorate within a span of two months following a person’s retirement provided all the relevant documents are submitted by the departments concerned.
Finance principal secretary Sharat Chauhan and secretary Y W Ringu cleared the doubts and queries of the officers present.
The meeting, attended by the principal chief conservator of forests, secretaries, chief engineers and directors of all the departments, ended with an online presentation on BHAVISHYA – a pension sanction and payment tracking system of the pension and pensioners’ welfare directorate.
