Finance Ministry has launched a web portal that will enable over 11.61 lakh government pensioners to track the status of their pension.
They will also be provided with SMS facility for tracking status of pension process and their grievance registration as well as disposal, a notification issued by the Ministry said.
The web portal was launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today. Speaking on the occasion, he said that central civil pensioners, family pensioners and freedom fighter pensioners will now be able to view their complete pension profile digitally by logging into www.cpao.nic.in.
The website, which will serve as a one-stop destination for providing information and speedy redressal of grievances, can also be accessed through mobile devices and it would also provide an option to pensioners to give their feedback.
"Nobody should be harassed, least of all pensioners because they are mostly senior citizens. And they need that resource and their life depends on that resource. So any delay or red tapism can actually cause a lot of harassment if not destitution," he said.
He said the facility of tracking pension status on mobile phone is a giant step taken by the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO).
The website will provide one-stop solution for pensioners to access information relating to status of pension cases, and pension payments processed by central ministries and banks.
CPAO disburses the pensions through authorised banks to central government pensioners and in the current fiscal it is managing the pension budget of Rs 32,070 crore. In 2015-16, the CPAO handled 60,211 pensioners' grievances.
Speaking on the occasion, controller general of accounts MJ Joseph said the portal will bring in transparency and accountability and ensure more responsive way of handling pensioners grievances.
