Captain (Rtd.) K.K. Govindan Nair, Director, Department of Sainik Welfare, has said that a final picture on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen is likely to emerge before Diwali.
Mr. Nair warned ex-servicemen against falling for comments made by “misguiding elements.” He said only around 27,000 of the nearly 2.5 lakh defence pensioners here had registered for digital life certificates. The Aadhaar-based biometric verification system was introduced recently. It would enable defence pensioners, ex-servicemen, and family pensioners to get life certificates without going to the disbursing agency. The beneficiaries were required to provide Aadhaar number and mobile number at the disbursing office and the Sainik Welfare office. Mr. Nair said nearly 90 per cent of ex-servicemen in Kerala were yet to notify for the dependent pension to be claimed by unmarried, widowed, divorced and disabled daughters. It had to be done when the ex-servicemen was alive.
Col. Praveen Kumar, Director, Regional Centre, Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), said 32 hospitals and diagnostic centres in the State were empanelled in the ECHS scheme. While the empanelling of three more hospitals had been approved by the Centre, the final order was awaited. The process of including 22 more hospitals and diagnostic centres were in various stages of approval. He said the RCC and Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology were de-empanelled recently, as their treatment rates did not match with the Central Government Health Services rates.
