DoT secretary inaugurates ‘All India Digital Nation-Wide Pension Adalat’

K. Rajaraman, Secretary (Telecommunications) & Chairman, Digital Communications Commission (DCC) inaugurated the All India Digital Nation-Wide Pension Adalat organized by Controller General of Communication Accounts (CGCA) today in the presence of Dilip Padhye, Member(Finance), DCC, connecting 28 Pr CCA/CCA/Jt. CCAs across India, with the motto of “Pensioners Delight” to resolve pensioner’s grievance giving vision to PM Narendra Modi’s vision of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance”.

On the occasion, Secretary (T) observed that Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been a pioneer with regards to Pension settlement and grievance redressal and 28 field units of Pr. CCA/CCA/Jt 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 and we did that during the difficult phase of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the prescribed standard of CPGRAMs for resolving 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 it 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 last Digital National Pension Adalat was held on 24.11.2020 through virtual mode and a total of 624 cases were taken up by respective CCA offices and 90% of the cases were disposed 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.

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 as regards to settlement and disposal of grievance as per the vision of our Hon’ble MoC and goal of our Secretary.

He mentioned that though the nodal Ministry emphasizes on 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 localized Pension Adalats, considering the age and geographical barriers.

CT Bureau