News
Trade unions hit out at ad hoc changes in the Pensions Department
After rendering her services as a mathematics teacher for over 22 years, Nilmini Ilangamage left service a few months ago. But instead of enjoying her retirement with her children she was sent from pillar to post to obtain her pension and gratuity payments.
“I kept calling the officer handling my file in the Pensions Department to find out what the issue was. He said I had not paid off one of my loans, and until I repay the loan in full, my pension file will not be released to the relevant office. It was only then I got to know they had sent my gratuity to the bank,” Ms. Illangamage explained.
“The usual practice was to deduct any payables before the gratuity is released, but they hadn’t done this, and they did not inform me either.”
With only her husband’s salary coming in she says it is difficult to make ends meet without her pension. To add to her misery her family faced another misfortune when one of the rooms in her house was destroyed by a fire recently.
She said the family expenses will rise again when the school term starts.
Desperate, she had approached a politician to assist her. It was only then that the department had agreed to release her file-but only after getting a written commitment from her that she would pay back the remaining loan as soon as possible.
Ad-hoc policy changes in the Pensions Department have caused this confusion, trade unions charge, adding that over 7000 government servants who retired this year are still waiting for their gratuity payments.
Added to this, the processing has been centralised now. This means retiring government servants from other areas have to come to the Department in Colombo to get their files processed.
“It is unfair to expect a retiring government servant from Kilinochchi or Hambantota to come to Colombo several times to get his/her files processed. This was earlier done by the divisional secretaries’ office,” said Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU). This trade union has been at the forefront in the campaign against the changes introduced earlier this year.
The government later withdrew the pension policy reforms to pay gratuities through the banking systems after trade unions including the CTU took to the streets protesting against the move. However this has not stopped the department from making several changes. Already the Department’s commissioner has made changes about 11 times. Despite the changes the department has not been able to clear the backlog of payments, the Sunday Times learns.
Commissioner Department of Pensions C. C. Hettiarachchi refused to comment on the matter when contacted by the Sunday Times.
Instead of addressing the main issues the department has decided to change the procedures and centralise pension payments. This has resulted in more difficulties to the pensioners, claimed All Island Pensioners Federation secretary Ariyaratne Widanapathirana.
Trade unions and pension unions also blamed the commissioner for not taking adequate measures to address the issues faced by the retired government servants in obtaining their dues.
“The commissioner claims to have uncovered major frauds in the department. But he is only referring to one such incident. He is doing this only to cover up his own inadequacies,” alleged Saman Ratnapriya, All Ceylon Nurses Union (ACNU) president.
He charged that the changes made by the commissioner to the way pension payments were processed is not legal.
“Any change to the procedures in place cannot be changed through just a circular, they have to be properly gazetted. He has not done this,” Mr. Ratnapriya said.