Ailing Widow Of World War II Veteran Given The Run-around For 14 years.

By Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd) World War II Veteran

Late Major Paramjit Singh Basi fought in World War II in North Africa from 1940 to
1942. Serving with the forward-most troops, he faced non-stop hostile bombing,
artillery shelling and small arms fires, making life there a matter of touch-and-
go.
After long meritorious service, Major Basi retired and immigrated to Canada with
his wife to spend their old age with their children. Both being elderly, developed
a number of ailments in Canada. Major Basi passed away after suffering a cardiac
arrest. Late Major Basi’s family pension was not recorded in his Pension Payment
Order (PPO). His widow Mrs Pritam Kaur Basi, therefore, had to apply for her
pension. She completed numerous forms and submitted them as directed. To receive
her pension through a bank, she opened a saving bank account with Bank of India,
Jalandhar. Mrs Basi’s case required sustained correspondence. It was an uphill and
time-consuming task. After continuous and vigorous efforts, her pension was
sanctioned by the C D A (Pensions) Allahabad.
On receipt of Mrs Basi’s PPO, her banker instructed her to appear in person at his
branch with documents to receive her first pension. Mrs Basi’s health by then, as
luck would have it, had taken a turn for the worst and she was declared Blind
medically. Besides, she suffered from many other complications. Being unfit to
travel to India medically, she requested her banker to credit her pension to her
bank account. Her banker refused to budge. She approached the C D A (Pensions)
Allahabad, who sent her banker a Government of India order, which authorizes
pensioners living abroad to receive their pension without personal appearance in
India. When Mrs Basi approached her banker, she was sent numerous forms/papers for
completion and return. Mrs Basi got all the forms completed, attested by paying
fee, which she could ill-afford. She returned them to her banker as directed.
Up and down correspondence again started like in the past. It moved at a snail’s
pace. After many long years of waiting, Mrs Basi got disappointed and disgusted
and gave up hope of receiving her late husband’s family pension during her
lifetime. As a last resort, she wrote letters giving full details of her case and
her prevailing health to all conceivable related authorities beseeching their
help. Taking a pity on her, recipients of her letter, wrote letters to her banker
to be considerate and to pay her the pension on compassionate grounds. They also
wrote to the CDA (Pensions) Allahabad requesting him to intervene in the matter.
Finally she was informed by her banker that Rs 2,12,000 have been credited to her
account towards her pension.
Mrs Basi suffered financially for 14 long years without her pension with no fault
of her. A great injustice was done to her by pension and banking authorities. This
case is an eye-opener. It will undoubtedly, have a demoralizing effect on all
current and future pensioners abroad. The Government of India must therefore, take
appropriate steps to ensure that no widow suffers the pain and financial loss like
Mrs Basi did.
Late Major Basi and I served during the World War II together. We shared a common
trench during enemy bombings/straffings. The two of us also moved to Canada later.
I personally handled the case of Mrs Basi’s pension with a view to help a late
brother officer’s widow.
Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal (Retd)
Founding President Indian Ex-Servicemen Society British Columbia