Odisha: Higher education department to have dedicated pension cell – Times of India

BHUBANESWAR: The higher education department will have a dedicated pension cell for the convenience of its retired employees. It was decided in a review meeting chaired by higher education minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak here on Saturday.
While discussing the pension disbursement issue, the minister directed the department officials to maintain integrity and transparency in adherence with 5T governance of the state government.
“A dedicated pension cell should start functioning immediately and the employees must receive their pension on the very day of retirement. All the pending pension cases must be cleared up within a specific timeline,” said a government statement quoting the minister.
After the functioning of a dedicated pension cell, retired employees will get a single window facility to air their grievances and solve their issues instead of approaching several officers of the department. “It will immensely help the pensioners of the department,” said an official of the department.
The minister reviewed various activities of the department. He said the department is making all efforts to fill up the vacancies of teaching and non-teaching staff in the colleges. He asked the officers to create a database of all the faculty of the government-aided colleges through a software so that the vacancy can be monitored and rationalized.
He also reviewed the status of funding received from the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and the World Bank, students’ scholarships and others. A detailed discussion was made on further improvement in the standard of higher education and the development of educational institutions in the state.
A discussion was conducted on the proper utilisation of the provision/allotment of funds in different heads in due time. “Measures will be taken to achieve higher NAAC ranking and participation in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF),” said the official statement.
Nayak advised the officers of the department to maintain absolute integrity and transparency and warned them not to deviate from this. He has asked the higher education department secretary to personally review the funds pending in various colleges and ensure their early utilization.