Omar Abdullah launches suvidha portal to simplify pension disbursement

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday launched the Pension Suvidha Portal at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar.

Developed by the Finance Department of Jammu and Kashmir in collaboration with the National Informatics Center (NIC) and the Principal Accountant General (A&E), J&K, the portal marks a significant step towards digitizing the pension sanctioning process for government employees.

A government spokesperson said the Chief Minister inaugurated the portal and congratulated the Finance Department, AG’s office, J&K Bank and all stakeholders involved in the initiative.

He said, “Whatever we can do to simplify the retirement process and post-retirement of our employees, I think that is a responsibility that lies on our shoulders. Employees who have served J&K and its people for long years deserve a simplified process.”

Omar said the verification of pensioners also needs to be made pensioner-friendly as every year pensioners have to prove that they are still alive and have to submit various documents and to visit offices in person. “So this initiative, I think, is something that all employees will appreciate,” he said.

“So my suggestion would be that together with the Assembly Secretariat, some sort of briefing material can be sent out to all the ex-legislators, so that they are aware of this change and how better to utilise it,” he added.

“With this initiative, I believe that process will be simplified. Now, going ahead, what we must always try and do is to ensure that employees get their dues on time,” he said.

Earlier, Director General Accounts & Treasuries Fayaz Ahmad Lone presented an overview of the Pension Suvidha Portal.

The portal supports the digitisation of pension records for 2,40,000 pensioners under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). He added that data collection was executed through multiple modes: treasury visits for 2,31,127 pensioners, home visits for 7,002, video calls for 1,819 pensioners residing abroad, and postal notices to 9,513 individuals. The portal captures comprehensive data including name, date of birth, service details, and photographs of pensioners.

Key features of the portal include early SMS and email alerts issued eight months before an employee’s retirement, online application submission with required document uploads, and integration with JKHRMS and JKPaySys for service and salary details. It is also linked with the offices of the Accountant General and J&K Bank for seamless electronic data exchange.

Retiring employees can now initiate and track their pension cases online, while DDOs and Pension Authorities are responsible for verification and processing.