May 24, Colombo: The Chair of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on An Open & Accountable Government instructed the Department of Pensions to take steps to promptly pay the pensions due to the employees retiring from the government service in Sri Lanka and to have the public informed about the same for that purpose.

The Chair noted that the public are inconvenienced due to the long time taken to receive the pension and said that this is a concern that has been going on for a long time and that complaints pertaining to the said concern are received frequently.

The Sectoral Oversight Committee on An Open & Accountable Government discussed these concerns when the Department of Pensions were called before the committee at its meeting recently in parliament.

The officials pointed out that it is possible to pay the pension within one month of receiving a properly completed pension application. They also pointed out that many problems arise due to the application form not being completed properly.

The Members mentioned that there is a great frustration among the public regarding the Department of Pensions due to the lack of a proper system to acquire the information about their pension. Therefore, the Members of Parliament pointed out that this system should be set up in such a way that services can be easily provided to the people by using modern technology.

The councilors also suggested to appoint a graduate officer to each divisional secretariat to deal with pension.

The Committee Members suggested that it is appropriate to call the pensioners' associations related to the respective districts before the Committee and discuss their problems.

MPs Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Mohomad Muzammil, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha, M. Rameshwaran, Kumarasiri Rathnayaka, Kapila Athukorala were present at this Committee meeting chaired by MP Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi.