February 2, 2017 TnH Global

Defence Veterans praise centralised travel system – Union Budget 2017-18

Seek simpler pension disbursement and a grievance redressal mechanism.

Veterans have welcomed the Centralised Defence Travel System, proposed in the Union Budget 2017-18. They, however, added that the other proposal on a web-based Pension Disbursement System for Defence Pensioners needs to be simplified and must have grievance redressal mechanism. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made two Defence-related announcements in his Budget speech. First, he said, “A Centralised Defence Travel System has now been developed through which travel tickets can be booked online by our soldiers and officers. They do not have to face the hassle of standing in queues with railway warrants.”

Brig Ravi Palsokar (Retd), who is based in Pune, said, “This is certainly welcome. Soldiers and officers have to travel from their units in remote areas, such as those in Jammu and Kashmir or the Northeast. Any move that can reduce their problems is welcome.”

Another veteran, Colonel SD Umalkar said, “The Defence forces are extensively using Internet and the web-based system for ticket booking against warrants. This will certainly make the process faster, easier and transparent. Not only do warrants require a lot of paperwork, they can also be easily misused. Web-based system will certainly help overcome these lacunae.”

Second announcement said: “A comprehensive web-based interactive Pension Disbursement System for Defence Pensioners will be established. This system will receive pension proposals and make payments centrally. This will reduce the grievances of defence pensioners.”

Brig Palsokar said, “This announcement brings up certain questions. First, can all pension beneficiaries, including old and retired soldiers and widows, use web-based systems? Many of them are not well-versed with the Internet. Also, it is important that the new system has a grievance redressal mechanism, which is currently lacking. The new system, but, would make it easy for widows to register pension-related complaints.”

A serving soldier, whose father is a retired Subedar of the Indian Army, said, “Both these announcements are good but I hope they are brought in practice across India, and not just some parts.”

News Source: indianexpress.com