Pension Samvad', a digital window for retired government officials to resolve issues from the comfort of home

Maharashtra has launched a pension related digital initiative for senior citizen pensioners in its jurisdiction as part of the 'Pension at your doorstep' programme.

Retired officers of Maharashtra government can now get all the information related to their pension as well as tools to solve any problem sitting at the comfort of their home.

Office of the Principal Accountant General (Accounts & Powers)-1, Maharashtra has launched a pension related digital initiative as part of 'Pension at Your Doorstep' program for senior citizen pensioners in its jurisdiction. The program includes 'Pension Samvad', as part of which officers chat and resolve issues of pensioners from the comfort of their homes, and 'Pension Seva Patra', an online drop box.

“I joined this office in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. When everyone was falling ill, I saw pensioners, these senior citizens physically coming to the office from far flung districts. The reason was that in the first wave of the pandemic, there was an impact on finalization of pensions,” said Jaya Bhagat, Principal Accountant General (A&E)-1, Maharashtra.

The office's jurisdiction covers 17 districts, which include Pune, Nashik and Konkan divisions, Mumbai city and suburbs. The primary responsibility of the office is to finalize the finance and appropriation accounts and authorize the pensions of state government employees. When an employee is nearing retirement, the concerned department finalizes the pension and then it comes to the office of the Principal Accountant General for verification and correctness of calculations.

The office authorizes pensions and issues pension payment orders, based on which the Treasury Office initiates pensions. The office maintains about 5 lakh lifelong pension accounts and 1.16 lakh GPF (Government Pension Fund) accounts of state government employees. The office also authorizes pensions for state employees as well as IAS, IPS, Forest Service officers, MLAs, MLCs, High Court judges and freedom fighters.

“Keeping all the problems in mind, we started this bouquet of services which we call ‘Pension at your doorstep’,” Bhagat said. One of the services was providing dropbox facility through Pension Seva Letter and GPF Service Letter, wherein pensioners/customers can submit their queries online or through physical drop box.

It was started on 15th April 2021 and till 10th October this year around 21,266 pensioners have been benefited from it.

Realizing the issue of digital divide, the office started a voice-mail service with effect from June 6, 2022, through which the issues faced by the pensioners were recorded. About 782 voice mail requests were received at 020-71177775. A toll free number - 1800220014 - was also launched from May 4, 2022, where around 2,000 pensioners had registered themselves.

"It is all linked to the primary initiative, called Pension Samvad, which started from March 2022," Bhagat said. Under this, the pensioner can register for the interaction at the office through phone call, WhatsApp message or Zoom video call.

Initially, the talks were conducted monthly but now it is being held weekly on every Friday.