PUNE, Dec 23: There seems to have appeared a dark cloud on the horizon of the so-called pensioners' paradise of Pune with retired Central government employees, forming a large mass of the 21 lakh population, having still not received Fifth Pay Commission recommended arrears from centralised banks.

Dreams and necessities have been pushed back another month with the new Maruti 800 or the next open heart surgery, still just out of reach of these men who have given their best years to the nation. It is ironical that more than 20 days after a public notification was made by the Indian Banks Association, on behalf of its 27 public sector member banks, asking for payments to be made to pensioners without awaiting further orders, most Pune banks are still sitting with their calculators, in what can only be called a pathetic display of bankers' mathematical prowess.

Says Ganapathi A, a retired defence civilian, "When I contacted the MG Road office of my bankers Central Bank of India regarding arrears payments I was told to come back after two months." This, in spite of the fact that the notifications which appeared in various national newspapers on November 25 asked pensioners to contact their banks who were said to have been already informed.

"The IBA has fooled all the pensioners," exclaims an angry Ganapathi.

In fact, with the exception of Bank of Maharashtra, which has commendable cleared district scrolls for all 135 Pune branches - an impressive tally of 28,000 pensioners - while having made all 500 payments at the Deccan Gymkhana branch, with other branches expected to do so in a day's time, most other banks in Pune are busy explaining delays.

Says Kashiram Palekar, regional manager, State Bank of India, Pune, "We have asked all our branches to make immediate payments to pensioners since we understand they should be treated on priority, but calculations are creating problems."

Most branches have employed their own agencies to do the calculations and SBI, Deccan Gymkhana, which expects to clear the 700 payments only by the end of this month, says the problem this time has been the absence of a detailed chart, outlining necessary details like basic pay scales and other structural information on the basis of which pensions are calculated.

The chart which was earlier displayed in press advertisements had to be obtained from pensioners and passed on to Mascom, the agency doing their paperwork. The SBI Paud Raod branch has incidentally made payments to all 200 of its pensioners.

"Senior citizens are too old to organise a fight or a protest, that is the reason why bank people are being so brazen," says G A Wagholikar, a Central Government pensioner with an account at the Canara Bank. "The entire banking system of Pune is in shambles," states retired Central Government employee G Ramachandra.

Central Bank of India meanwhile continues to struggle with its ledgers which will take at least another week to clear and for about 4,000 pensioners to receive their dues, says H N Alkunte, manager, operations. "The money is ready and will be paid as soon as calculations are complete," he explains. This time also, an outside agency, Cybernetik Systems Pvt Limited, is helping out.

A step further is the Canara Bank, Hadapsar Branch, which is still awaiting instructions from the head office. Says a complacent branch manager Pakash Barve, "No instructions have been received at any branch of Canara Bank, calculations should take about 15 days."

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.