Dispose pensioners' complaints within 2 months: Government

NEW DELHI: Concerned over undue delay in addressing grievances of pensioners, the government has directed all ministries to resolve the issues within two months of receiving the complaints.

A pensioners' portal — pgportal.gov.in — is being run by the Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare for receiving complaints and there is also a Centralised Pension Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS).

It has been found by the department that grievances are lying pending for unduly long periods and the pensioners concerned were suffering.

"Minimum courtesy of acknowledging a receipt of the complaint may be done within a period of three days of the receipt of the grievances in case of receipt of dak physically and same day in case if it is an online application," the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DPPW) said.

The pensioners can also write their grievances to nodal officers of respective ministries and to the DPPW.

The grievances may be redressed within a maximum period of two months of its receipt. "Cases where it is not possible to give an immediate reply, an interim reply should be given to the applicant," it said in a recent order.

Any request made by a pensioner which does not fall under the ambit of pension policy would be a demand and may be tackled accordingly as they do not form part of the approved policy of the government, the order said.

"Pending vigilance or court cases cannot be included in grievances as they are dependent on the finalisation of the cases. Hence, the pensioner may be informed of the same and these grievances tackled accordingly," the department said in the order issued to all central government ministries.

The pending grievances are being constantly reviewed by the department to ensure its redressal within a time frame.

There are about 30 lakh central government pensioners.