Guwahati, July 29: Now service centres across 27 districts of Assam will facilitate hassle-free and transparent pension processes.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday inaugurated the Pension Sewa Kendra (PSK) of Kamrup (Metro) district set up by AMTRON on the office premises of the district elementary education officer for streamlining the procedures to ease the hardships faced by pensioners here.
The state government had in October last year approved the setting up of the PSKs by AMTRON across the districts of the state in line with its commitment to improve ‘ease of living’ for citizens.
Accordingly, AMTRON has set up the PSKs in 27 districts to facilitate scanning and uploading of service books along with submission of pension proposals through the Kritagyata portal.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said the state government, in a bid to streamline the pension procedures, decided to set up the PSKs for the benefit of the pensioners who dedicate a long period of their life to the service of the people.
As school teachers constitute the maximum number of pensioners, the PSKs were opened in the district offices of the education department, which will also cater to services of pensioners of other departments.
Highlighting the operation of the PSKs, the chief minister said the state government has authorised all district authorities, heads of offices and competent authorities to start processing of pension proposals within a year of retirement of an employee.
The scanning and uploading of service books will be done by the PSK operators and they will forward the service books and records to the head of offices functioning as the custodian of service books through the Kritagyata portal.
The head of office after proper compilation of the scanned service book and record will forward it to the sanctioning authority.
Terming the initiative a gesture of gratitude to the employees who retire from government service, Sarma said the PSKs would facilitate retirees to submit forms online through Kritagyata on getting SMS from the heads of offices.
It will also help retirees to upload the digital life certificates using the registered device of Jeevan Pramaan, besides acting as a cyber cafe to help pensioners to download their pension payment orders (PPO) and other information.
The chief minister further said that scanning and uploading of service books on the Kritagyata portal would help concerned offices to maintain digital record rooms related to service books.
He informed that retirees could also come to the PSKs and upload their details on the Kritagyata portal apart from verifying their service books uploaded by the PSK operators.