Let us go back to pre-2016 practice and get our pensions through respective embassies
I am a Sri Lankan pensioner who lives overseas with my children. Before 2016, even at the height of the war, I always received my monthly pension through the closest Sri Lankan embassy. Every three months I had to send a life certificate, witnessed and signed to the embassy. They, in turn, conducted business with the Dept. of Pensions. With no problem, I received my full pension at the end of each month.
Things changed in 2016. Our pensions were suddenly stopped. We were asked to open Bank Accounts in a Sri Lankan bank in Sri Lanka (only four branches recommended by the Dept. of Pensions). These accounts cannot be joint accounts. They have no access to ATM facilities. Only the pensioner has access to them, even if they are unable to use modern technology. The Dept. of Pensions then sends the pension to their selected bank branch. I have to send a witnessed and signed life certificate together with a transfer pension form to the bank.
Added to this, I have to send scanned documents each time to the Inland Revenue Department ( IRD) Deputy Commissioner to get their approval without which the bank does not release my pension. Most people are aware that we pensioners of over 80 years are not very computer literate and I have to request my children for help. This unjust new system, which originated under the Minister in charge of the Pensions Department during the Yahapalana regime, has harassed us enough.
The Sri Lankan Bank deducts a commission at their end and the local bank here in New Zealand deducts another $15 at the end of each withdrawal. When two banks deduct commissions at both ends, what do I get out of the paltry pension which I earned after hard work, years ago?
Please sir, let us go back to the pre-2016 era and get our pensions through the respective embassies. They will send us each month, the full pension with no deductions. The embassy officials at the Australian Pensions Branch were an efficient lot.
Any letter or email sent to Director General Pensions is NOT EVEN acknowledged. If you telephone him, someone at the desk says “Mahattaya
meetimaka”. Do all these so called meetings bring any benefit to us?
J. Amarasekara
New Zealand