7th Pay Commission latest news: Good news for central government employees who retired during lockdown

7th Pay Commission latest news: In a bid to provide relief to the central government employees who retired during the Coronavirus lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic, the Narendra Modi led central government has decided to ensure provision of pension for them till their regular Pension Payment Order (PPO) is issued. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh made an announcement in this regard on Monday to the media fraternity and said that the decision was taken because in the wake of pandemic, a government servant may find difficult to submit pension forms to the Head of Office or may not be able to forward the claim form in hard copy along with service book to the concerned Pay / Accounts Office in time, particularly if both the offices are located in different cities.

"This is very pertinent to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) who are constantly on the move and whose Heads of Offices are located in cities different from where the Pay & Accounts Office is located," said Singh, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions. Dr Singh went on to add that after the Modi government took over, the department of pensions and pensioners' welfare had upgraded and equipped itself to deliver the PPO to the employee concerned without delay on the day of his or her superannuation.

Besides this, in the last few years, taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on digitalisation, the department of pensions and pensioners' welfare has also created a portal, which can be accessed by any government employee approaching superannuation to find out the status of his or her pension papers, the minister said.

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The decision will help those central government pensioners who couldn't get their PPO, either due to the non-completion of the formalities or even after completing the entire formalities. The Union Minister accepted that the pandemic has hit the government office operations and the central government has taken this decision to ensure regular payment of pension to those who retired during the lockdown or pandemic hit times.