Appoint officers to expedite aid to deceased govt staff’’s kin: Centre
: The Centre has asked all its departments to appoint nodal officers who would coordinate with the family members of a deceased government employee to assist in paperwork and facilitate expeditious disbursement of entitlements.
In a letter, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Secretary Indevar Pandey said that details of the nodal officer may be prominently displayed on the website of ministries, departments, attached and subordinate offices.
“As you are aware, quite a few government employees and officers have lost their lives in the recent surge of COVID-19 cases. In many cases, the deceased employees and officers were the sole breadwinners of the family,” he said.The untimely death of employees and officers has left their families devastated and in urgent need of funds in the midst of the pandemic, Pandey said.”It is, therefore, incumbent on the government to ensure that family pension and other entitlements in respect of deceased employees are released to their families expeditiously,” he said in the letter issued on Thursday to secretaries of all central government ministries and departments.
Upon the death of a government employee during service, in all cases, family pension is payable at the rate of 50 per cent of the last pay for a period of the first 10 years and at the rate of 30 per cent of the last pay thereafter, the letter stated.”I would also request you to appoint a nodal officer, not below the rank of Director/Deputy Secretary, in the ministry/department as well as in the attached/subordinate offices, who would coordinate with the family members of the deceased government employee to extend assistance in paperwork and facilitate expeditious disbursement of the entitlements,” Pandey said.
National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS) Delhi unit president Manjeet Singh Patel, who has been fighting for the scrapping of the new pension system to ensure employees get benefits of the old scheme, said the Centre’s decision will be of immense help for the bereaved family.
“It is a very encouraging move by the central government. We urge all central government departments to ensure expeditious appointment of nodal officers to help families of deceased government employees to get their dues expeditiously,” Patel said.
NMOPS is a non-profit organisation with over 13 lakh central and state government employees as its members.
Pandey, in his letter, said the completion of the process of sanction of family pension and its disbursement through the bank may take some time.