Pensioners that have any concerns or grievances related to the pension can now easily register their concerns at the principal account general office. There are toll-free numbers and voicemail services that the pensioners avail of for their concerns to be addressed.
“Attention pensioners. Now, you can register your concerns at Principal Accountant General Office easily. Toll Free Number 1800-2200-14. Monday to Friday. 9.30AM to 6.00PM. Voicemail service 020-71177775 available 24/7,” according to an official tweet shared by the finance ministry on Friday.
Apart from this, there is a Centralised Pension Grievances Redress And Monitoring System also. It is an online computerised system that has been developed with an objective of speedy redress and effective monitoring of grievances besides providing fast access to pensioners. The pensioners can also appeal if they are not satisfied with the redressal of their grievance.
The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in December 2021 had expressed concern over delay in disposal of pensioners’ grievances beyond the stipulated time limit of 60 days, and asked the Centre to constitute social audit panels to identify core complaints prone areas and streamline their systems.
Noting a steep increase in the number of re-registered grievances over the years, the panel suggested putting up an accountability mechanism in place and explore the feasibility of holding the grievance redressal authorities concerned answerable for summarily disposing of grievances without appropriate qualitative action.
It also asked the government to sympathetically consider the demand of pensioners’ associations for 5 per cent additional quantum of pension on attaining the age of 65 years, 10 per cent on 70 years, 15 per cent on 75 years and 20 per cent on 80 years to the pensioners.
There are currently about 68 lakh central pensioners in the country. For them, the government recently hiked dearness relief (DR) by 4 per cent, thus raising their pension amount. The DA and DR hike is decided based on the percentage increase in 12 monthly average of the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) for the period ending June 2022. Though the central government revises the allowances on January 1 and July 1 every year, the decision is generally announced in March and September.
Following this, the Rajasthan government also raised the DR for the state pensioners by 4 per cent. There are about 4.40 lakh pensioners in the state.
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