Unaware Of Entitlements, 1971 India-Pakistan War Widow To Receive Pension Dues After 46 Years

Seventy-two-year-old Chitra Samant, the widow of Vir Chakra awardee Lieutenant Suresh Gajanan Samant who laid down his life while searching for underwater saboteurs at Karachi during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, is all set to receive her pension dues after 46 years.

On November 16, the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA), Allahabad, issued the revised pension pay order (PPO) to the widow, approving liberalised family pension.

For all these years, she had been receiving an ordinary pension amounting to Rs 29,834 per month. But from the next month, she will receive a revised pension of Rs 97,400. In addition, she will receive all arrears pending since 1972.

¡°I never paid attention to my pension as I was under the impression that whatever pension was disbursed by the government was correct. I had full faith in the government,¡± said Chitra, who recently shifted to Pune from Mumbai, where she spent over four decades.

The septuagenarian was unaware of her entitlements until her last visit to the Sainik Welfare office in Bandra in June this year. A clerk working at the office, upon verifying her documents, found gross anomalies in her PPO issued by the PCDA, Allahabad, in 1972.

Following which, the widow with the help of her nephew Anoop Gavankar, submitted her documents to the pension cell of the Maharashtra Sainik Welfare board in Pune.

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Group Captain Suhas Phatak (retired), in charge of the cell, said, ¡°The widow has not been getting her due pension and special gallantry allowance from the Centre since 1972. The new PPO, which calculates liberalized family pension with effect from 1986, is incorrect as she is entitled to receiving pension from the day of the issuance of the first PPO. We have taken up the issue with the PCDA as well Naval headquarters, New Delhi.¡±

Following her husband¡¯s death, she took up a job as an assistant to secretary in the general administration department of the Maharashtra government. Later, she took up home tutoring at her residence in Borivali.

She has not accepted offers of welfare schemes proposed by the state government. ¡°I am proud of being a war widow. I don¡¯t want anything special. If required, I can resume my tuitions,¡± she said.

Devoted to duty

¡°Lieutenant Suresh Gajanan Samant was on board an Indian Naval unit, which attacked enemy ships off Karachi and also other installations in the harbour on the night of December 4 and 5 in 1971. He displayed great professional skills and devotion to duty and was instrumental in achieving the aim of the mission. Subsequently, he laid down his life searching for under-water saboteurs around a naval anchorage. Throughout, Lieutenant Suresh displayed gallantry, professional skill and devotion to duty of a high order,¡± reads the citation of the Vir Chakra received by Chitra Suresh Samant from then President of India V V Giri in 1972 in New Delhi.