VIJAYAWADA: As many as ‘193 pension cases’ are pending in the courts across the State and 250 people from Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts showed up in the pension adalat in Tummalapalli Kalakshetram. Only 16 cases have been cleared till now. Another instance of a glitch in the pension disbursement process is the case of 64-year-old Aruna Kumari from Gudivada in Krishna district, whose name was not entered into the pension record.
“When we presented our case to the officials today, they told us to forward it to the Treasury department of Gudivada,” her husband Ramadha Babu told TNIE. In another case, a 58-year-old widow, Aruna K of Narsapur in West Godavari district, has applied for her husband Satyanaryana Reddy’s pension to be transferred to her, but her application was rejected citing a rule that stipulates repudiation of pension-transfer to kin whose age exceeds 45 years.
Nuzvid Pensioners’ Association represented her case in the Pension Adalat conducted at Tummalapalli Kalakshetram on Tuesday and sought the unjust rule to be removed. The officials of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions ministries said that they will ‘examine the merits of the case’ and ‘decide if it can be sent to the higher authorities’ to be considered for amendment.
Pensioners’ Association of Nuzvid president, Medda Narayana, told TNIE, “Let us hope the government removes these inane rules so that the needy don’t suffer due to the absence of pension transfer rule.”
When asked if the digitisation process could resolve these issues, Accountant General, Andhra Pradesh, Anindyadas Gupta replied in the affirmative.