Lavanya, the widow of Gunner Ramana Reddy, got her family pension after 19 years struggle.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
It was a huge relief for a widow of a retired Army Gunner as she got the family pension after 19-years of running from pillar to post.
It all started in 2005 when Gunner Ramana Reddy of Artillery Regiment passed away. He was discharged from the service in 1991 on medical grounds but secured a job in Central Excise department as a constable. His wife, Lavanya, could not complete the formalities of the family pension due to her ill health and other issues after his demise. He hailed from Kamalapur village in Navipet mandal of Nizamabad district.
Her woes compounded when she overdrew the pension of her husband and there were documentation issues. The bank account was different from the one in which the husband’s pension was credited.
Sainik Welfare dept takes up the issue
The issue was brought to the notice of Colonel Ramesh Kumar, Director of Sainik Welfare Department, Telangana in 2017. The Sainik Welfare department officials approached the banks, obtained necessary documents by submitting an undertaking to recover the excess amount drawn and simultaneously took up the issue with Record Office and PCDA Prayagraj for sanction of family pension duly completing elaborate formalities since it was a 12 year-old case.
After persistent follow up, the family pension was finally sanctioned in October 2021 but it was not the end of the ordeal as Ms. Lavanya had closed her savings bank account by mistake.
She was then advised by the Sainik Welfare officials to open another account in the same bank and took up the case once again with the Artillery Record office and PCDA authorities for change of bank account. After a series of correspondence, the amendments to the Pension Payment Order with amended bank account was issued in 2023.
Family pension sanctioned
When the officials and the widow thought the hardship had come to an end, the change of responsibility of Central Pension Processing Centres of the Bank resulted in her documents getting misplaced. The Sainik Welfare department officials after long drawn battle managed to secure her family pension in June this year. According to Col Ramesh Kumar, Ms. Lavanya finally got a monthly family pension of ₹ 12,000 and arrears to the tune of ₹19-lakhs.
A relieved Ms. Lavanya, who secured a job in the Central Excise GST wing on compassionate ground after her husband’s demise, says she had lost all hope of getting the pension. “A chance meeting with the Col. Ramesh Kumar at an interaction session with families who did not get family pension at the PCDA Prayagraj gave me a hope in 2015,” she said.
‘Lost hope’, says Lavanya
“He pursued the case and went all out to help me. I cannot believe that I am going to get the family pension today after a struggle of 19 years,” she said. Ms. Lavanya struggled a lot after her husband’s death taking care of her daughter and son. Her daughter Hyandavi Reddy is studying MS in UK while son Rudransh Reddy is pursuing engineering at a college in the city.
Col. Ramesh Kumar said that lack of awareness among the pensioners and their family members often led to such situations. The department had in the last few years handled 65 such cases.
The foremost issue is the mismatch in the name of the spouse in the Pension Payment Order, joint bank account and the Aadhar Card. Even if there is mismatch of name in any of these documents, the pension get stopped. It is a laborious process to get all these amendments and hence the delay. “On our part, we are conducting awareness camps in all the districts where Sainik Welfare offices are located to help the needy families,” he added.
