E-Paper
17 years gone, her kin battle on for pension
SEVENTEEN YEARS after the death of Kalui Dai, her kin are still awaiting justice. An honest and dedicated worker of the district health department, Kalui retired from the post of ?dai? (delivery assistant) on August 31, 1979 from Mauaima primary health centre. But till date the department has not released her pension which now amounts to over Rs 10 lakh including retirement benefits. Her third generation?s fight for justice got more arduous after her official records got misplaced from the AGs office.
SEVENTEEN YEARS after the death of Kalui Dai, her kin are still awaiting justice.
An honest and dedicated worker of the district health department, Kalui retired from the post of ‘dai’ (delivery assistant) on August 31, 1979 from Mauaima primary health centre. But till date the department has not released her pension which now amounts to over Rs 10 lakh including retirement benefits.
Her third generation’s fight for justice got more arduous after her official records got misplaced from the AGs office. The district health department has taken no interest to provide duplicate service records of Kalui Dai.
Kalui Dai’s first posting was at MCH centre, Koraon, about 105 kilometers from her residence in Mauaima. A daring woman, she took the posting despite family protest and provided her services to poor rural women in the interiors of Koroan, where there was no light or approach road. After she retired in 1979, she struggled for full 10 years to get her pension released from the department, but to no avail. Wife of a daily wage labour, she finally lost the battle of life in extreme poverty and without any medical aid on November 11, 1989.
Kalui’s third generation, who are now struggling to get the pension released from the department, don’t even know about the number of retirement benefits they should actually claim. Her son Ram Prasad is now 70 years old and is a small time vendor. By saving a year’s income, the family again made a representation to the Accountant General’s office in 2005 but after few months of waiting they were told that their papers were misplaced. The case was also referred to the Pension Adalat but in the absence of papers, the matter could not be disposed of.
Pension Adalat member and additional director, Treasury and Pension, directed the Mauaima PHC in-charge to send fresh papers of Kalui Dai before October 24 so that it could be taken up at the Pension Adalat. But no papers were sent by the in-charge.
Former CMO Dr Nisar Ahmed said Kalui Dai was a very honest worker. “We were directed to send fresh papers of her but before that I was transferred and the officers took no interest in her case,” he said.
