By Tiki Rajwi
Published: 19th October 2015 06:39 AM
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fate of nearly 4,000 applications for financial assistance submitted by ex-servicemen from Kerala that were rejected by the Kendriya Sainik Board (KSB) continues to hang in limbo. Renewed attempts by the Sainik Welfare Department, Kerala, to get the applications cleared have hit a wall. On its part, the KSB has accused district-level Sainik Welfare officials in the state of not scrutinising applications to see whether they met the eligibility criteria.
“We submitted 150 applications afresh, but the KSB has turned them down saying that they want a consolidated list and not small bunches,” a top department official said. A letter from Joint Director (Welfare Schemes), KSB, dated October 6 reads: “You are requested to forward consolidated RSB (Rajya Sainik Board or state units) as per time lines enunciated per scheme and not piecemeal or district lists.”
With the issue threatening to spin out of control, Capt (Retd) K K Govindan Nair, Director, Sainik Welfare, convened an urgent meeting of Zilla Sainik Welfare Officers in Ernakulam the other day.
The KSB had returned the nearly 4,000 applications on the grounds that they did not meet criteria such as bank accounts with either State Bank of India (SBI) or Punjab National Bank (PNB), IFS code, Aadhaar number, e-mail ID and mobile phone number. Majority of the applicants are between the ages of 65 and 90, and most lack bank accounts in either SBI or PNB, or other requirements such as an Aadhaar number.
What is shocking is that the thousands of rejected applications had been submitted to KSB over the past two years. Take for instance, the rejected application received by the Sainik Welfare Department on October 9. This particular request had been submitted on November 25, 2013, and dealt with a World War II veteran’s daughter’s plea for financial assistance for orphans. After sitting on the application for two years, the KSB discovered that the ex-seaman had served in World War II and was not covered in the category for the purpose of this scheme. The covering letter which accompanied the returned application reads: “Further, it has been noticed with concern that ZSWO (Zilla Sainik Welfare Officers) at district-level are not scrutinising the applications as per eligibility criteria and policy guidelines, resulting in wrongful gain to ineligible persons. This also could be indicative of some malpractice at the lower level.”