Mumbai: Postal staff at senior citizens' homes secure pensions

Until last year Sunder Raman 75 had to take his over 93yearold mother Saradha Ramakrishnan to the bank for a Digital Life Certificate Jeevan Pramaan as his plea to send bank staff home fell on deaf ears This year he is full of praise for the postal staff who visited his house and completed DLC formalities so that his mother continues to get her Rs 18000 pensionSunder a Thane resident said My mother has slight dementia and hearing problem We were worried about the COVID19 pandemic and the DLC when I learnt about the Postal ServiceRaziya Mainar 65 a widow from Vavi village Sinnar Taluka Nasik district at the Vavi village postoffice for completing DLC formalityHe enrolled his mothers name with the local post office and an Adhoc postwoman Akansha Gaikwad did the DLC formalities at their residenceSaradha gets a pension as Sunders father Ramakrishnan was employed with the state governments Food and Civil Supply Department He died in 1998 The postal DLC service is a blessing for many elderly people Sunder saidRampyari Dogra 85 a resident of Louis Wadi Thane W after completing the DLC formailityAshok Dogra 63 a resident of Louis Wadi Thane got to know about the postal department being roped in by the Ministry of Labour for the DLC service through an SMSAlso ReadGovt must relook at concessions for senior citizensUntil last year Dogras bank sent their staff home Dogra is pleased with the postal departments service as many senior citizens could get benefitted and the staff follow COVID19 protocols His mother Rampyari 85 is entitled to pension as his father was employed with the Indian NavyShobha Madhale Postmaster General Navi Mumbai RegionRaziya Maniyar 65 a widow from Vavi village in Nasik district is entitled for approximately R11000 pension for her deceased husband Chands service I am happy that they started the service in the village post office My husband worked for the postal department The formalities were completed fast I got my pension for November Raziya saidThousands of requestsShobha Madhale Postmaster General Navi Mumbai Region said This is the first time that Department of Posts DoP has been roped in for DLC amid the COVID19 pandemic Pensioners of government organisations whose pension disbursing agency is live for DLC can take benefit of this facility They may use the Aadhaarenabled biometric authentication mechanism to generate DLCPosters from EPFShe added Leveraging DoPs extensive network India Post Payments Bank IPPB is facilitating DLC generationMadhale has six divisions in her region mdash Navi Mumbai Thane Nasik Malegaon Palghar and Raigad with 1558 post offices and has received 8487 requests so far for home visits and 7140 calls have been attendedThe DLC submission deadline has been extended to December 31 this yearMadhale added All request messages received are scrutinised and sent to concerned post offices The postman and gramin dak sevak have to coordinate with the pensioner Postal staff get a small incentive for every DLCChallenges on the groundA postman said on condition of anonymity It is difficult to get biometric fingerprints in some cases and we have to patiently keep trying Sometimes incorrect addresses are given Or mobile numbers constantly remain unavailable In some societies security personnel dont allow postmen inHe added We also face internet issues Sometimes people refuse the service when they learn of the Rs 70 charge because banks give this service for free There are KYC issues in some cases We do not react because these are professional hazardsRegional provident fund staff speaksMore than One Crore families in India can be classified as pensioner families where the pension disbursed by the various government bodies forms the basis for their income and sustainability There are about 54 Lakh pensioners of the Central Government and a similar number of the various State and UT Governments and various other government agencies This includes pensioners from the various public sector enterprises In addition to this Army and Defence Personnel drawing pension exceeds 25 lakhA data staffer on condition of anonymity at Regional Employees Provident Fund Organisation REPFO Thane said On an average we get around 100 at our office Numbers have gone down due to the postal departments serviceWe have to invest more time when some senior citizens dont remember their mobile number We dial our number from their handset and feed the number from the call in the system the staffer addedSource India Post Maharashtra CircleAbout DLC ServicesThis service is available for IPPB and nonIPPB customersTo avail DLC service a customer can contact the nearest post office or place a request for a doorstep visit by the postmanGrameen Dak Sevak Department of Posts have also enabled scheduling of doorstep request through the Post Info app or through the website httpcccceptgovincovidrequestaspx To Book Doorstep Request through India PostIssuance of DLC is a completely paperless seamless and hasslefree process and the certificate is generated instantlyOn successful completion a Pramaan ID is generated that is shared with pensioner by NIC directlyOnce the Pramaan ID is generated pensioners may download the DLC through the link httpsjeevanpramaangovinppouserloginFor every successful generation of DLC a nominal fee of Rs 70 inclusive of GST CESS will be chargedThere will be no doorstep charges levied for IPPB or nonIPPB customers for issuance of DLCKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news