All 4,488 pensioners in the Union Territory of Ladakh have been migrated to the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO), an official said on Saturday, asserting that the finance department is in continuous touch with the Jammu and Kashmir Bank to ensure that they receive their pensions by the month-end.
To further smoothen the process of pension, the Union Controller General of Accounts had issued guidelines for migration of the pensioners of Ladakh to the CPAO, which is mandatory according to the scheme for the payment of pensions.
The official said the Ladakh administration, in coordination with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), is continuously addressing the issues raised in respect of the pensioners of the Union Territory like authorisation of pension, a timely disbursement of pension and reimbursement to the pension-disbursing banks.
Certain issues that emerged due to the stoppage of reimbursement of the disbursed pension to the Jammu and Kashmir Bank by the Jammu and Kashmir administration in May 2021 have also been successfully resolved to avoid any disruption in the disbursement of pensions, the official said.
He said all the 4,488 pensioners have been migrated to the CPAO with the coordinated efforts of the Directorate of Accounts and Treasuries, Ladakh, the office of the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, the MHA and the CPAO.
The Directorate of Accounts and Treasuries, Ladakh as well as the CPAO deployed additional manpower for this massive migration exercise, which was completed in the last two months, the official said.
He said the process of migration involved collection of the disburser’s portion of the Pension Payment Order (PPO) from the bank branches concerned, verification of the required information and certification by the Pension Accounting Offices (PAOs) concerned.
All the PPOs were sent to the CPAO, who, in a dedicated and time-bound manner, migrated the PPOs to electronic PPOs following the requisite procedure and sent those back to the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the official said.
To expedite the process of disbursement of pensions, the CPAO sent soft copies of the e-PPOs on a regular basis to the bank, he added.
The official said the Ladakh finance department is in continuous touch with the bank to ensure that all pensioners receive their pensions by March 31.
He said the migration exercise will be helpful to the pensioners as the database in respect of them has been completely digitised.
“This will facilitate any changes, including increases in the dearness allowance, to be implemented seamlessly in the future for the pensioners. The migration to the CPAO will also be helpful for the spouses of these pensioners as the pension to the spouse, when required, shall be started with minimum formality,” the official said.
He said all the pensioners are requested to contact their pension-disbursing branches and verify the data of the e-PPOs, particularly in respect of furnishing the details of the spouse.
After the migration, the pensioners can also draw their pension through any of the CBS-enabled branches of any authorised bank throughout the country, the official said.