Elderly Bangalore woman gets windfall, monthly pension doubles

Her monthly family pension doubled from Rs 4,725 to Rs 9,450 and she got a handsome arrears from 1996 of more than Rs 4.35 lakh.

Muniamma was presented with the cheque at the 100th Defence Pension Adalat, organised here by Controller of Defence Accounts, Chennai, under the aegis of Defence Accounts Department, by Neelam Nath, Secretary in Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence

"I am very happy. Now I am staying in a rented house. I will build my own house", the elderly, unassuming Muniamma, who does not know her exact age, told reporters when asked as to what she would do with her "unexpected bounty".

Her husband Kathaiah was a "Sepoy", according to her family members, who are not sure about the cause of his death in Nagaland in 1970. They said they heard conflicting reports -- that he either died of cardiac arrest or during operations in the north-eastern state.

Muniamma needs to thank Defence Pension Disbursing Officer, Bangalore, her Pension Disbursing Agency (PDA), for the "lottery".

In fact, she had not even applied for the Defence Pension Adalat here because she thought that she was getting pension at the correct rates. During the VI Central Pay Commission revision, the DPDO observed that it was likely that she was entitled for special family pension instead of only minimum family pension which she was drawing.

Unfortunately, the original pension payment order (PPO) was not available in the file to confirm it. The PDA therefore referred the case to the Record Office which not only confirmed the special family pension but also forwarded the photo copies of the PPO.

Officials said 831 cases out of a total of 1529 received in the Adalat here had already been settled.

Some of the interesting cases include that of Baby Rajam, widow of an Honorary Sub-Lieutenant, who was delighted that she got an impressive arrears of more than Rs six lakh and saw her monthly family pension jump to Rs 10,935 from Rs 4,725, which she was receiving till last month.