Governor Kalraj Mishra said that the complaints related to pension of ex-servicemen should be resolved in a practical manner so that the moral of the soldiers remains high.He was speaking on the occasion of 170th Defence Pension Adalat at Paonta Sahib in Sirmour District, today. Kalraj Mishra said that more than 31 lakh pensioners were drawing pension through various pension disbursing agencies across the country and around 85 thousand pensioners were being added to the pensioner's strength every year. He said that the defence pension budget for the year 2019-2020 has been pegged at Rs. 1,12,079.57 crores which accounts for 60 per cent of total pension budget of the government of India.He said that approximately 60 thousand grievances have been received in pension adalats and 99 per cent cases have been settled till date. He said that ex-serviceman population in Himachal Pradesh was approx. 1, 47, 963. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were the lands of brave soldiers and despite all the challenging situation, the charm to serve the Indian army was increasing among the youth, which was a matter of great happiness.The Governor said that the country would always remember all the brave soldiers who made supreme sacrifices to protect the motherland. The country was also indebted to the brave women and their families who have lost their loved ones for the sake of country.
The Government was committed to the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families.He said that Defence Pension Adalat was a good effort to reach out to the ex-servicemen, which was specifically aimed at resolving their pension related complaints near to their residences.IDAS, CGDA Sanjiv Mittal said that the aim of the Defence Pension Adalat was to take the grievance redressal mechanism and the authorities associated with it, to the doorstep of the defence pensioners to resolve the pension related grievances on the spot and also to educate them about latest government orders. GoC Maj General Sanjeev Chaudhary said that it was an effective platform to resolve pension related problems of ex-servicemen besides giving information of welfare oriented schemes for ex-serviceman being implemented by the Government. He lauded the efforts of controller General of Defence Account to organise Pension Adalats.ADG, AHQ, New Delhi Vibha Sood said that it was the best opportunity for Veer Nari to get resolved the grievances related to pension.Brig. Suresh Verma (Retd), Director, Sainik Kalyan said that state Government has reserved 15 percent seats for ex-servicemen. He added that pensioners should correct their records so that they do not face any inconvenience in getting their pension. Vishvajit Sahay, IDAS, PCDA (Pension), Allahabad said that PCDA (Pension) Allahabad has started a facility of Pension Call Centre and any defence pensioner could call on Toll Free No. 1800-180-5325 to register their complaint for quick redressal.