Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter on Wednesday to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “insulting the nation” over non-disbursal of pension to hundreds of former servicemen, including several three-star officers.
Sharing a report by Hindustan Times on the matter, Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “After the 'One Rank, One Pension' scam, the Modi government is now adopting the policy of 'All Rank, No Pension.' Insulting our soldiers is an insult to the nation. The government should give the pension of ex-servicemen at the earliest.”
Several ex-servicemen have not received their pension for April 2022, and the government’s pension disbursing authority has not offered them any explanation on why the retirement benefit was not credited into their accounts, HT has learnt. Affected by the non-disbursal of pension, they said it should have been credited into their accounts on April 29-30 but that as of Tuesday, the pension was still due.
{{/usCountry}}Several ex-servicemen have not received their pension for April 2022, and the government’s pension disbursing authority has not offered them any explanation on why the retirement benefit was not credited into their accounts, HT has learnt. Affected by the non-disbursal of pension, they said it should have been credited into their accounts on April 29-30 but that as of Tuesday, the pension was still due.
{{/usCountry}}Former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd) said that the pension amount was the only source of income for some of the affected Army veterans. He took to Twitter seeking the defence minister Rajnath Singh’s intervention in the matter and wrote: “Is this how we say ‘Thank you for your service to the nation’?” Former army chief General VP Malik (retd) said the matter was “serious”.
Meanwhile, at the condition of anonymity, an official at the government’s Defence Accounts Department (DAD) said the veterans had not received their pension for April 2022 as they might not have submitted certain mandatory documents.
“While they may have had submitted the life certificates last year, after the migration to SPARSH, the pensioners were required to submit the document again by March 31. Thousands of them had not submitted the certificates, but we took the initiative and captured their identification at our end and brought down the number to hundreds. Pension will be credited into their accounts as soon as they complete the identification,” said a DAD official.