Govt spends Rs. 10 b monthly for pensioners

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Cor.

The Government spends Rs. 10 billion monthly to pay 543,552 government pensioners in the country. Under the W&OP fund benefits, 145,000 persons enjoy privileges at present.

Around 2,000 retired government servants are added monthly to the number of government pensioners. 15,000 Pensioners who were entitled to get their gratiuties amounting to 8,000 million rupees have been paid.

A program to offer speedy solutions to the problems of pensioners have been introduced by the Pensions Department," said the Director General of Pensions Sunil Hettiarachchi.

"If newly-retired pensioners hand over the relevant documents on time to the Department of pensions, their pension payments can be paid without any undue delay," the Director of Pensions said.