4,536 World War II surviving veterans and widows of the veterans in the state get a mere Rs 3,000 a month, even as class 4 state government employees get a princely pension of Rs 20,000
Hansabai Shirodkar, 84, widow of Sepoy Govind Shirodkar; Badlapur, Kr Prabhakaran Unni Nair, 96, former havaldar; Goregaon and Daisy Anthony Menezes, 84, widow of Air Force Radio Operator Anthony Menezes; Santacruz
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Old, frail and world-weary, 246 surviving World War II veterans in the state will raise their hand in salute to the Indian Flag on the country’s 68th Republic Day tomorrow. But several of them live disillusioned. Struggling to get by on a pension of R3,000, they not eligible for the minimum pension that class 4 state government employees receive -- a handsome Rs 20,000.
Director at the State Sainik Welfare HQ, Col (retd) Suhas Jatkar said, “World War II was a typical situation.
The army constituted by the British then was not a regular one. It was raised only for the duration of the war, hence the basic requirements for recruitment -- physical standards, medical fitness and age -- were lowered.
The British used everyone in the country who could be recruited in their fight against Germany.
Once the war was done, it was not possible for the British to maintain such an army, so they retired the men and told them to go back to their original professions.
This is the reason these veterans were not taken care of. They either did not work for a pensionable service or they did not put in the number of years of service required to get a pension.”
Sainik welfare
The State Department of Sainik Welfare HQ at Pune through their 30 districts offices all over Maharashtra has been supporting the state’s 4,536 WWII veterans and their widows in every possible way and has recently put up a proposal to the state government to increase the financial assistance from R3,000 to R6,000.
Interestingly, a class 4 employee of the state government as per the 6th pay commission gets a pension of around R20,000 a month and central government class 4 employees (after implementation of the 7th pay commission from January 1, 2017) gets around R25,000 a month.
Col Jatkar said, “The World War II veterans and their widows all over the state are mostly in the age group of 80 plus and most of them live in rural areas with no family or financial support.
Aid from state
“The state government provides aide of R3,000 a month, which costs the exchequer Rs 21.55 crore.” He said since the World War II fund is a state subject, every state as per its requirement, decided to provide these veterans with financial aide, of which Maharashtra pays the least. Mid-day spoke to a few war veterans from Mumbai and Thane districts, from where a large number of World War II veterans came.
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