Defence veterans complain of not receiving pension for April

Some defence forces veterans have complained of not receiving their pension for April and that the authorities have no answer for it.

They have stated that their pension was not credited on April 29 or 30 and they are still awaiting it.

Lieutenant General DS Hooda (Retd) in a tweet said: "Veterans complaining of pension stopped without explanation. For most, this is the only source of income. Is this how the we say 'Thank you for your service to the nation'? Request @rajnathsingh to intervene."

There is no word so far from Defence Ministry over the issue. The problem started after the defence ministry introduced online system.

In keeping with the Digital India vision of the Government of India, the Ministry of Defence implemented System for Pensions Administration - Raksha (SPARSH) for pensioners of the Indian Armed Forces as well as Defence Civilians as an integrated system for automation of sanction and disbursement of defence pension. The armed forces and other organisations were onboarded to the platform in phases, beginning with the Indian Army from August 2021.

This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.

The Defence Accounts Department has been the nodal implementing agency for Project SPARSH, which is envisaged on a 'whole of the government' approach and carefully integrates over 3,000 pension initiating, sanctioning and disbursement agencies and brings pensions services right at the door step of the veterans - from digital process of pensioner verification to real time tracking of grievance redressal.