There appears to be some confusion in paying the arrears to all pensioners who retired from government service before 1996. Now one year has lapsed since the government decided to pay the arrears from 1st January 2004.

More than 50 per cent of the pensioners are yet to receive their arrears. This is due to the fact that several Divisional Secretaries are adopting different methods of paying the arrears. Some are referring to the pensioners file and others are issuing certificates of their own which leave room for bribery and corruption.

This has put the old pensioners who have now passed the the Biblical three score and ten (70 years) into great inconvenience.

I am a sick and feeble pensioner dependent on the Wattala Divisional Secretary Office. For the last one year I have visited the office several times by taxi and ultimately I was given a form to be filled and certified by the Director of Agriculture, Peradeniya from where I retired 22 years ago. I consider this request very unsatisfactory, when all details are available in my file at the Divisional Secretariat, Wattala.

May I request the Director of Pensions to take speedy action and send a directive to all Divisional Secretary offices to refer to the pensioners file and pay the arrears accordingly, without further inconveniencing the old pensioners.