Jammu, Feb 29 Union Minister of State (independent charge) Jitendra Singh on Saturday inaugurated the Pension Adalat and National Pension System (NPS) Awareness and Grievance Redressal Programme at the Convention Centre here.
The redressal programme is being conducted by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India. The minister also launched the "Do You Know" Twitter series on family pension, along with a booklet highlighting case studies with interpretation of pension rules.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that this is the first time that Pension Adalat is being conducted outside Delhi as the government wants to reach out to every part of the society and the country to get pensioner's grievances redressed in real-time, as aspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The minister further said that Pension Adalats will help in on-the-spot redressal of pensioners' grievances which will give the right of "ease of living" to the pensioners.
Singh also said that Prime Minster Modi has directed that pensioners should be provided a hassle-free administrative system to resolve their grievances.
Singh further said that the grievance redressal system was quite neglected before 2014, but the day the present government took charge, the system has completely changed.
The grievances have increased manifold from 2 lakh to 20 lakh, which is evidence that people have complete faith on the present government, the minister added.
The Centre has a grievance redressal rate of 95 per cent to 100 per cent per week and the Pension Adalat started a few years back is proof to it, he reiterated.
Singh also said that a number of reforms have been undertaken by the government to facilitate the pensioners. Highlighting the initiatives of the present government, he said that one of the main initiatives taken by it was to fix the minimum pension at Rs 1,000.
He further said that the retired population is increasing in India and it is in national interest to channelise their energies in a positive manner, as the government sees them as assets, not liabilities. There should be smooth transition from their active life to retired life, he added.
The minister also said that the real time portal, the dash board for security personnel and a toll free number started by the government are proof that the present government is serious about the welfare of the employees, both serving and retired.
( With inputs from IANS )