Govt duty-bound to ease post-retirement life of employees: CM

Srinagar, May 6: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday said that the government was duty-bound to simplify post-retirement life for the employees.

Launching the Pension Suvidha portal at the civil secretariat here, he said, ìWhatever we can do to simplify the retirement process and post-retirement of our employees, I think that is a responsibility that lies on our shoulders. Employees who have served J&K and its people for many years deserve a simplified process. And the more we do for our employees, I think the more we need to appreciate it.î

Developed by the Finance Department, J&K in collaboration with the National Informatics Center (NIC) and the Principal Accountant General (A&E), J&K, the portal marks a significant step towards digitising the pension sanctioning process for government employees.

Formally inaugurating the portal, the CM congratulated the Finance Department, AG’s office, J&K Bank, and all stakeholders involved in the initiative.

Extending his congratulations to the officers and his best wishes to all pensioners who will benefit from the initiative, he said that verification of pensioners also needs to be made pensioner-friendly as every year pensioners have to prove that they are still alive and have to submit various documents and to visit offices in person.

“I think this initiative is something that all employees will appreciate,” CM Omar said.

Highlighting the inclusive nature of the portal, he said it also covers ex-legislators who are pensioners. “So my suggestion would be that together with the Assembly Secretariat, some sort of briefing material can be sent out to all the ex-legislators so that they are aware of this change and how better to utilize it,” he said.

Acknowledging the challenges faced by employees nearing retirement, the CM said that the last few months of service are often consumed by paperwork.

He emphasised that more often than not, efforts are made to post such employees close to Srinagar or Jammu to ease their transition.

“With this initiative, I believe that process will be simplified. Now, going ahead, what we must always try to do is to ensure that employees get their dues on time,” CM Omar said.

He also pointed out that timely disbursement of dues like GP Fund was a recurring concern among the employees.

“So for that, in the Finance Department, we are working closely to ensure that these sorts of issues are resolved. But generally, clearly, the initiative that has been taken today, I think, is a welcome one,” the CM said.

He also handed over a settled pension case to Ragubhir, a retired employee who superannuated on April 30 this year.

Earlier, Director General (DG) Accounts and Treasuries Fayaz Ahmad Lone presented an overview of the Pension Suvidha Portal.

He said that the portal supports the digitisation of pension records for 2,40,000 pensioners under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The DG Accounts and Treasuries said that data collection was executed through multiple modes including treasury visits for 2,31,127 pensioners, home visits for 7002 pensioners, video calls for 1819 pensioners residing abroad, and postal notices to 9513 pensioners.

He said that the portal captures comprehensive data including name, date of birth, service details, and photographs of pensioners.

The DG Accounts and Treasuries said that the initiative had helped identify and rectify several anomalies, including pension disbursement after death in some cases, duplicate dearness allowance payments, and premature cessation of recoveries.

He said that the objectives of the portal include streamlining and digitising pension processing, enhancing efficiency and transparency, reducing paperwork, reconciling pension disbursement with banks, and enabling real-time tracking of pension application status.

The key features of the portal include early SMS and email alerts issued eight months before an employee’s retirement, online application submission with required document uploads, and integration with JKHRMS and JKPaySys for service and salary details.

It is also linked with the offices of the Accountant General and J&K Bank for seamless electronic data exchange.

The portal facilitates the issuance of PPOs, provides post-retirement services tracking, and supports online KYC updates and the use of Jeevan Pramaan for life certificate submission.

The streamlined workflow involves eight stages including registration, application submission by the employee, DDO review and approval, sanction by the Pension Authority, submission to the AG’s office, authorisation and PPO number issuance, payment processing by the Treasury, and final completion.

The portal engages a wide range of stakeholders.

Retiring employees can initiate and monitor their pension cases, while DDOs and Pension Authorities are responsible for verification and processing.

The Accountant General’s office authorises PPOs while the treasuries handle the payments, and pensioners can view disbursement details, request revision, and apply for transfer of pension accounts online.

The event was attended by Advisor to Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani, Additional Chief Secretary Education Shantmanu, ACS to CM Dheeraj Gupta, Administrative Secretaries of Agriculture Production Department, Finance, Information Technology, Social Welfare, Forest, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Public Works Department, Rural Development Department, Cooperatives, and Law Department.

The event was also attended by Principal Accountant General (A&E) J&K along with his team of officers, Principal Resident Commissioner J&K, MD and CEO J&K Bank, Director General, Funds Organisation, Codes, Audit and Inspection, Budget, Local Fund, Audit and Pension, Directors of Finance, Financial Advisors of all Administrative Departments, Director Accounts and Treasuries, Kashmir and Jammu, and State Informatics Officer, NIC J&K.

The outstation officers and officials attended the launch via video conferencing.