VELLORE: “Servicemen and ex-servicemen should make use of welfare measures and facilities offered by both the Central and State governments,” said Lt Gen Jagbir Singh, General Officer Commanding, ATNKK, here on Saturday. He was speaking after flagging off a one-day grievance rally organised by the Army Headquarters of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka region at the Nethaji Stadium. Over 2,500 servicemen and ex-servicemen from Vellore district participated in the rally.
Further, Lt Gen Singh urged ex-servicemen to make use of training provided by skill training centres of the defence services to get placement and self-employment. ‘There are a lot of welfare schemes especially for the war widows, differently-abled ex-servicemen offered by the government and the sainik welfare board and you should make use of them,’ he said.
“In order to sort out problems related to pension and other benefits, a grievance redressal portal has been introduced recently and the serving and ex-servicemen should make use of this service too. If the problem was not sorted out by officials concerned, the portal posts the problem to the higher officials automatically so that the solution will be offered to the petitioner at the earliest, he added.
“Most of the private companies nowadays looks for disciplined staffers and you should make yourself fit into their requirement,” he told the gathering, and appealed to the serving and ex-servicemen to make use of the cashless medical facilities offered through the veteran welfare centres.
Also, Lt Gen Singh lamented that over 50 per cent of the job quota meant for ex-servicemen offered by the government agencies were not getting filled due to lack of awareness and also due to many of ex-servicemen preferring to stick to their native places. The GOC interacted with many participants and received petitions from them and handed over aids for the disabled wards of the servicing and ex-servicemen from the district.
Later, speaking to media persons, he said the rally was being conducted in Vellore since the district housed a large number of serving and ex-servicemen. When asked about the possibility of Vellore getting a sainik school, he said the state government had to pursue this issue by allocating necessary land. He said that one sainik school was recently established at Kalikeri near Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. The general added he would explore the possibility of establishing a Kendriya Vidyalaya to benefit the children of government employees and ex-servicemen.