Electronic ‘Pension Payment Order’ promises ease of living for senior citizens: Union Minister

New Delhi: Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the recently introduced Electronic “Pension Payment Order” (PPO) promises ease of living for senior citizens. Referring to some path-breaking reforms introduced in the Ministry, Dr Singh said that the Department of Pensions was often at the receiving end of complaints from senior citizens about the original copies of their Pension Payment Order getting misplaced. He said, in such situations, the pensioners, particularly the older pensioners, had to face several hardships.

He congratulated the officials in the Department of Pensions who had successfully introduced the provision of Electronic “Pension Payment Order” during the COVID pandemic, which came as a boon to several of the retiring officials. He said, significantly, the entire process was accomplished much before the targeted time line in view of the difficulties being faced by the pensioners due to the pandemic.

Accordingly, the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare decided to integrate the electronic PPO generated through PFMS application of Controller General of Accounts with Digi-locker. This enables the pensioner to obtain an instant print – out of the latest copy of his PPO from the Digi-locker account. Dr Singh said, a number of reforms have been introduced to bring ease of living and convenience in the lives of pensioners whose population is increasing day by day with the increase in lifespan and improved status of health.