Hyderabad: Tech glitches delay pension payments

Hyderabad: The pension payment offices in Hyderabad have been struggling with technical glitches for over a week, leading to delay in the timely payment of Aasara pensions to disabled people and also the family pensions and other payments to pensioners.

It is said that the BSNL network-the lone communication operator in government offices is not working properly since over a week while the staff finds the opportunity to unwind conveniently without taking much pain of the pensioners and their relatives shuttling daily between pension payment offices and their houses in order to get their work done.

Official work like handling pension payment records, uploading of payments to pensioners, filing life and death certificates by the pensioners and many more works are being delayed due to network issues.

"We cannot do anything as it is a technical issue. The BSNL network through which we usually use to settle official work is not responding for over a week. We are using our own mobile network to get some urgent works done. Though there would be no issue with pension payments as the disbursement work has already been done, the other payments to pensioners may get delayed," informed an official on the condition of anonymity.

It is said that the Pension Payment Office Falaknuma at Motigally area alone carries over 25,000 pensioners retired from different government departments. Pensioners, enrolled here, usually visit this office to get their pending issues done. However, no proper network for over a week is leading to anxiety among the people in senility.

Lashing out at authorities for putting the pensioners to hardship at pension payment offices especially at Motigally, Falaknuma, Syed Shoukat, a community activist said, "At an advanced era of 4G and 5G network, using a feeble network system like BSNL to settle official work is not considered as a good idea. Network in government offices need to be upgraded with advanced software similar to the one being used by the private establishment and institutions like banks to serve the public. This would help to address the issues of old age pensioners on time and without putting them to suffer hardship as they have already spent most of their lifetime serving the people and the government."