Minutes of Meeting held on 30.07.2021 under Chairmanship of Secretary (ESW) with ESM Association

Minutes of Meeting held on 30.07.2021 under Chairmanship of Secretary (ESW) with ESM Association.

Ministry of Defence
Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare

Subject: Record of Discussions of the Meeting held on 30.07.2021 under the Chairmanship a of Secretary (ESW) with Representatives of 05 Recognized Associations of ESM.

A meeting was held on 30.07.2021 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (ESW) with Representatives of 05 Recognized Associations of ESM to discuss grievances/ welfare issues of Ex-Servicemen(ESM) .

2. The meeting started with opening remarks by Shri B. Anand , Secretary (ESW). Secretary (ESW) categorically stated that he is open to suggestions and innovative ideas which can positively impact the lives of ESM. The suggestions and ideas will be examined to improve the lot of community of ESM who have served the Nation while risking their lives. He , then , invited the representative of ESM Associations to speak one by one.

3. Brig Kartar Singh, President of the Indian Ex-Services League on behalf of representatives of all 05 associations stated that they have some 9 common points for consideration of DESW and its attached offices namely DGR ,KSB & ECHS. These 9 common points are as under:-

(i) Revision of their pension under OROP from 01st July 2019, i.e on competition of 05 years of the orders of DESW.

(ii) Setting up of Veteran Commission.

(iii) Setting up of ECHS veterans hospitals.

(iv) OROP of Majors ( denial of pension of full service to Majors).

(v) Uniform MSP for lower functionaries/ PBORs.

(vi) Special pension to War veterans.

(vii) Centralized pension disbursal system.

(viii) Awards of war Ex-Gratia to SSCOs/ ECOs.

(ix) Financial assistance to recognized ESM associations.

4 Thereafter, Gp. Capt. Ashok Sethi, Secretary of the Airforce Association spoke at length and raised the following issues :-

(i) Shortage of medicines in the ECHS empanelled hospitals coupled with inadequacy of funds for local purchase of medicines.

(ii) Empanelment of local civil chemists needs to be done on lines similar to empanelment of hospitals/ diagnostic facilities to provide cash less service. Frequent withdrawal / Non empanelment of hospitals/diagnostic facilities. Some of the smaller cities have no empaneled hospitals.

(iii) Lateral employment of ESM in Para-military forces and other Govt. /Semi-Govt. Departments.

(iv) Non utilization of skilled ESM for Nation building.

(v) Under utilization of vacancies reserved for ESM in Central/ State Govt./PSUs/Autonomous Bodies.

5 Intervening Air Marshal Jagjeet Singh added the following additional suggestions for consideration of Secy(ESW).

(i) Delayed issuance of Corrigendum PPOs in respect of past pensioners. It is imperative that whenever the pension is revised, a Corrigendum PPO must be issues promptly.

(ii) Undue delay in resolution of grievances. specially relating to pensionary matters.

(iii) Restoration of supply of directly imported items in CSD.

(iv) Revision of OROP w.ef 01 Jul 2019.

(v) Formation of Veterans’ Commission.

(vi) Convening of Standing Committee of Welfare of ESM. |

6. Shri L Jagan Reddy and Shri V. N. Mishra of National Ex-Servicemen Coordination Committee (NExCC) also raised some issues aS given here under.-

(i) Provisioning of Testing Equipment to MH Secunderabad.

(ii) Re-consideration of grant of dual family pension from Military as well as civil authority to the widows of Re-employed Ex-Servicemen of the West Bengal.

(iii) Denial of CSD Smart Card and Disability pension to Ex-Senvemene-6304624 Ex-Servicemen Dauita Venkata Subbavadhan

(iv) Pay fixation of Ex-Servicemen on their Re-employment in Govt. Departments, PSUs, P.S. Banks and other Govt agencies of Stale Govt.

(v) Sanction of in sufficient funds for ECHS resulting hardship to beneficiaries.

(vi) Provision of ECHS Polyclinic facilities to veterans / veer naries & dependents.

(vii) Non-stoppage of FMA and lumpsum recovery from ECHS beneficiaries

(viii) Non- availability of medicines at ECHS polyclinics

(ix) Covid treatment reimbursement

(x) Funding of ECHS.

(xi) Request for arranging legitimate cashless medical treatment to the ECHS beneficiaries in Tripura state.

(xii) Waiver of last 10 months pay rule consideration for pension.

{xiii) Concordance tables prepaid by CGDA for implementation of option 1 of 7th CPC.

(xiv) Non-payment of arrears of revision of pension of pre-01-01-2006 retiree Havildars granted Hony Rank of Nb Subedar

7. Col. Ajit Singh Rana and Brig. Narender Singh of the Disabled War Veterans (DIWAVE) raised the following issues for consideration of DESW and other stake holders:-

(i) Priority/ Preference to War Disabled Ex-Servicemen in allotment of DGR Schemes.

(ii) Denial of OROP benefit to some ranks of Disabled War Veterans and non-implementation of OMJC report.

(iii) Inclusion of War Injury Element in Family Pension for Widows of the War Disabled.

(iv) Separate Cell in PCDA(P) for War injured and War Widows dealing with WI/ disability pensions and War Widow pensions.

(v) Priority for Reservation/ preference to Wards of War disabled soldiers / battle Causalities retained in service in admission.

(vi) Allotment of funds to DIWAVE from Flag Day Fund.

8. Secy(ESW) asked MD, ECHS to clarify Issues raised by all 06 associations relating to ECHS, MD, ECHS stated the following:-

• • Establishment of Veterans Hospital to be managed by the Service Specialists and Armed Forces. MD ECHS informed that the proposal was considered but not found financially feasible. However a proposal to have a veterans wing In the Service Hospitals is under consideration.
  • Non- availability of Medicines In ECHS Polyclinics, MD ECHS informed that the issue is genuine and efforts are being done to make all the medicines available through the Authorized Local Chemists and Jan Aushadh| Kondras, Secy ESW suggested to explore the possibility of tie ups with e-commerce pharmacies for home delivery of these medicines so that the ESMs don’t have {to run from one place to another to get their medicines.
  • Delay in reimbursement of Bills In ECHS. MD ECHS informed that necessary steps are being taken to ensure that the bills are processed at the ECHS Polyclinics in a day or two and the claims are paid within a week. The issue is genuine and efforts are being done to make all the medicines available through the Authorized Local Chemists and Jan Aushadhi kendras.
  • Non-Empanelment of Hospitals in ECHS. MD ECHS informed that necessary steps are being taken to ensure that more hospitals especially in tier-II and Ill cities/ smaller towns are encouraged to empanel their hospitals with ECHS. This may include giving certain relaxations in their NABH/QCI certifications etc. Secy ESW also stressed the need to leverage tie-ups with the reputed private hospitals and their branches by making the ECHS rates attractive for them, including tele-medicine through such reputed private hospitals.
  • Superspeciality Facility at _MH Secunderabad. MD ECHS informed that the equipment/facilities for urology have been procured and made operative and the equipment for neurology will also be operational shortly.
  • COVID treatment re-imbursement: MD ECHS informed that the cases will be examined sympathetically for those who have incurred more expenses during the pandemic when they had to visit the non-empaneled hospitals for treatment in emergency.
  • COVID-19 Pandemic Problems faced by ESMs in treatment. MD ECHS informed that the Covid-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented situation for all the Health Care Organizations of the Country and all out efforts were made by ECHS to ensure proper treatment to the ECHS beneficiaries. The members of the ESM Associations present applauded the efforts of the ECHS authorities during the above crises wherein special measures were taken to ensure timely treatment to the ESMs and their dependents.

9. Representatives of all 05 ESM associations also raised the following pension related issues:.-

a) Implementation of next revision of pension under OROP :- Secretary (ESW) informed that policy on OROP issued vide Govt. of India letter No. 12(1)/2014/D(Pen/Pol)-Part dated 07.11.2015 is subjudice in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Nevertheless, all the representatives of a Associations requested to implement the next revision of pension under OROP, due from 01.07.2019, on the basis of methodology adopted vide MoD letter dated 07.11.2015. They also a informed that none of the associations present in the meeting are parties in the court case filed before Hon’ble Supreme Court. They further requested that Govt. should announce about Bo implementation of OROP w.e.f. 01.07.2019.

b) Revision of Pension of Majors and equivalent rank under OROP: Association representatives informed that anomalies exist in the pension of Majors and equivalent ranks under OROP. They informed that Major and equivalent ranks with more than 22 years of qualifying service have been given the pension of 22 years retirees under OROP as data above 22 years retirees were not available. As such, Major and equivalent ranks Officers have not got the benefit of OROP revision.
Association representatives also requested to remove the cut off date of 01.01.1900 mentioned In MoD letter. Director (Pen/Legal) informed that Hon’ble Supreme Court has upheld the order of MoD on the issue. The Writ petition filed by Shri Sushil Kumar Jain has already been dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

c) Military Service Pay (MSP) :- Association representatives requested to enhance MSP for JOOs and grant benefits of MSP to all the ranks. JS (ESW) informed that this is a pay issue which could  be handled by Deptt. of Military Affairs (DMA).

d) Protection of pension of Major General and above :- Association representatives informed that since MSP is not granted to Major General and above, there are instances that these Officers are getting less pension than their juniors. Joint CGDA informed that in the Govt. order there is a protection that Senior Officers must not get less pension than their juniors.

e) SPARSH :- Some representative of Associations expressed concerns about efficacy of SPARSH particularly in respect of Army Personnel who are residing in the remote areas and are Not well educated. JS (ESW) and Joint CGDA informed that their concerns have already been taken into account in the implementation of SPARSH. Secretary (ESW) also stated that during the presentation on SPARSH before him, he was informed that SPARSHI will be beneficial for all the Armed Forces Personnel. Over the time, it will reduce the Pension Grievances, Gp. Captain, DAV informed that so far as Air-Force is concerned, SPARSH is working very smoothly though there are some issues which are being addressed.

f) Association representatives requested that any revision of pension should be followed by revised

g) Hony Nb Sub Case :- Association representatives also requested to remove the anomalies which exist between pre-2006 and post-2006 HNS retirees.

h) Neither attributable to nor aggravated (NANA) by Service cases :- One Association requested that grant of disability pension should be considered liberally.

i) Representative of Disabled War Veterans (DIWAVE) also raised the following additional issues :-

a) OROP II should be implemented at least for the disabled war veterans.
b) Govt. letter dated 24.02.1972 should be implemented in letter and spirit.
c) Boarded out Ex-Cadets should be given ESM status and disability pension.
d) Widows of war disabled should be given enhanced family pension.
e) A special cell should be established at PCDA (P), Allahabad office to deal with battle casualties,

10. Thereafter, DGR was asked to clarify issues relating to re-settlement and reservation raised by the associations. DGR clarified the following:-

(i) Consequent to 6th CPC, posts in Gp ‘D’ have been upgraded/ merged with Gp “C’ and similarly some posts have been upgraded/merged with Gp ‘B’ , DGR /DESW has accordingly taken up the case with DOP&T for revision of ESM reservation quota in Gp ‘B’ 10% and Gp. ‘C’ 20%.

(ii) Quota for Disabled ESM along with dependents of ESM killed in action has been fixed 4.5% out of 14.5% in Gp. ‘C’ and 4.5% out of 24.5% in Gp. ‘D’ in Banks and CPSEs.
Apart from this, priority for allotment is accorded by Oil marketing companies in allotment of petrol Pump & LPG gas agency.

(iii) Re-settlement Course:- there is a limited number of job vacancies that can be filled by our ESM( both through Re-settlement schemes & skill development training) enabling them to qualify for Govt/ civil/Corporate jobs. Efforts are underway to increase capacity to generate jobs.

11. Thereupon, Secy, KSB was asked by Secy(ESW) to clarify issue relating to Inter-se priority for reservation/preference to the wards of Armed Forces Personnel by States/UTs for admission in Medical/Professional/Non-Professional courses raised by the associations. Secy, KSB stated that the issue may be re-examined/ reconsidered and processed on file.

12, Secy(ESW) also desired to examine all the issues and process on file for his perusal / decision. All concerned Divisional heads to take prompt action in consultation with DGR, KSB, ECHS, CGDA & Def(Fin).

13. Brig Kartar Singh of Indian Ex-Servicemen League thanked Secretary (ESV) for his prompt action and positive attitude towards ESM and their grievances on behalf of all 05 associations and stated that they look forward to early resolution of pending matters and many more meetings in future.

14. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.

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