Immediately release pension to families of govt. employees who died of Covid-19 — Jitendra Singh

Our Reporter
Dimapur, June 8 (EMN): Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has issued instructions for immediate release of pension to the families of government employees who lost their lives due to Covid-19.

In a landmark order, the department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has instructed all ministries, departments, Controller General of Accounts as well as CMDs of pension disbursing banks to ensure that the family pension begins within one month of the receipt of the claim from the eligible family member of a government servant who has lost his or her life due to Covid, according to a PIB report.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh informed that all secretaries have been asked to personally monitor the in-service death cases and ensure the start of family pension within a month of the receipt of claim and death certificate, on a periodic basis.

He stated that the secretaries should also nominate for this purpose, an officer of the respective ministry or department, whose name and contact details should be reflected on the website for any family member to contact in case of delay. At the same time, every ministry or department should send a monthly position of such cases to the department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare.

Singh expressed hope that governments of various states and UTs will emulate this practice for their respective state and UT government employees in the wake of the unprecedented pandemic. He further said that all the departments of the government should follow these instructions in letter and spirit, and the respective head of departments should monitor it on a regular basis, the report added.

The department of Pension further said that the pandemic has claimed lives of several government employees during the recent surge. In many cases, the deceased employees were the sole bread-winners of their families and the casualties have left the families in an urgent need of funds for livelihood. It is, therefore, important to ensure that the family pension and the other entitlements are released to their families expeditiously, the report said.

‘The new office memorandum also implies that action may be taken on priority basis for disbursement of regular family pension to the bank and for payment of other entitlements of the family on death of the government servant. It may be ensured that the Pension Payment Order (PPO) for family pension is issued and disbursement of regular family pension is commenced by the bank not later than one month of the receipt of the claim for the family pension,’ it added.