The Uttar Pradesh government this week launched the ‘Kalyan Sathi’ initiative to bolster the delivery of pensions and other welfare schemes to senior citizens through a new mobile app, a helpline number, and a web portal. These measures are in addition to the existing facilities for senior citizens in the state. Unveiling the initiative on Tuesday, Social Welfare Minister Asim Arun said the Kalyan Sathi helpline number 14568, the Kalyan Sathi app, and the Vriddhashram portal for senior citizens will help address issues related to the disbursal of old-age pensions and other concerns.

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The helpline number will be active on weekdays between 9:30 am and 6:30 pm. It is reported that some 53 lakh senior citizens in the state benefit from government pension schemes.
The mobile app is expected to help them navigate the welfare schemes provided by the state. For example, senior citizens can easily obtain information about the schemes from their homes.

Under the initiative, the social welfare department will set up an integrated command centre to streamline and increase the efficiency of resolving pension-related issues.

The department also publishes the quarterly magazine Kalyani, which provides updates and success stories on government schemes and acts as a resource for the general public.

Quick Resolution Of Pension Issues

A day after this announcement, Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said the government will ensure quick resolution of all pensioner issues, including timely and error-free payment of pensions.
The minister also promised to enhance the facilities for pensioners of the state while inaugurating a new building of the Pension Directorate at the Institute of Financial Management Training and Research campus in Lucknow’s Indira Nagar area on Wednesday, PTI reported.

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“Ensuring timely disbursement of pensions to pensioners should be our top priority. Pensioners must not face any kind of trouble. We have got the opportunity to serve the elderly, and we must perform our duty,” it quoted Khanna as saying.
The minister urged the treasuries to develop “a foolproof mechanism” to ensure no errors in pension payments and timely disbursements to the proper beneficiaries. “We must avoid complications like recovery due to incorrect disbursement,” he stressed.

Pension Directorate

The Pension Directorate was established on June 2, 1988, to resolve pension-related cases of the UP government employees as an alternative to the Accountant General’s Office.
The new directorate was built due to the insufficient space at the old office in Indira Bhawan, which made preservation and record-keeping of documents challenging.
The directorate currently handles pension cases of Group A officers, employees of the commissions, agricultural universities and technical colleges, including the Khadi Board.

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