Widow of Ex-Servicemen Gets Pension After 18 Years

Telangana Sainik Welfare Director Colonel Ramesh Kumar said Gunner Ramana Reddy belonging to the artillery regiment was discharged from the army in 1991 and expired in 2005. His wife Lavanya could not complete the formalities for family pension due to ill health and family issues.

Her request for a family pension was kept on hold since she erroneously overdrawn the pension of her husband, documentation issues and her bank account was in a different bank. In 2017, she brought the issue to the notice of Ramesh Kumar, who approached both the banks and obtained necessary documents by submitting an undertaking to recover the excess amount drawn.

He took up the issue with the record office and Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA), Prayagraj for sanctioning pension duly completing a number of formalities since it was a 12-year-old-case. The family pension was sanctioned in October 2021 after sustained efforts for over four years.

As Lavanya closed her bank account by mistake, Ramesh Kumar advised her to open another account in the same bank and once again took up the case with artillery record office and the PCDA authorities for change of bank account.

After prolonged correspondence and sustained efforts for nearly two years, the amendment to pension payment order with amended bank account was issued in June 2023. However, there was a change of responsibility of central pension processing centres of the bank due to which her documents got misplaced and Ramesh Kumar once again got into a long battle with authorities concerned.

As a result, pension along with arrears for the last 19 years was paid to Lavanya in June 2024.