The members of Insurance Pensioners’ Association, Udupi Division, affiliated to the All India Insurance Pensioners’ Association (AIIPA), staged a dharna in front of the LIC Divisional Office here on Monday seeking the fulfilment of their demands.
In a memorandum submitted to the Senior Divisional Manager of LIC of India here, association general secretary A.M. Ballal said there had been no improvement since 1997 in the scheme of Ex-gratia for the pre-1986 retirees and these recipients had been made to suffer with the increased cost of living eroding their real incomes.
The AIIPA, pointing out their contribution to the growth of the insurance industry in its nascent period and referring to the benefits granted to similar Union Government pensioners, had been demanding increase in the quantum of ex-gratia. It had been brought to the attention of the authorities that the benefit could be granted without any hassle. It did not require any funding or formal government notification. But the Government and management continued to deny the benefit linking it to extraneous factors.
