Veteran Suhas Sadashiv Phatak -5 Oh My God ! Even this can happen here ! Does anyone value any one in our society? The elderly lady on whose behalf Suhas was approached sometimes early 2011 was none other than the wife of a deceased Air Marshal. We will not mention his name here. But he was a recipient of a Maha Vir Chakra, a Distinguished Flying Cross, a PVSM and a Padma Bhushan, to boot. The lady was suffering from senility, a usual problem with the reclusive elders. Her daughter, though, realised that all was not well with her moms pension and luckily she had heard of Suhas. Through her friends, she established contact and our good samaritan decided to visit the metro city where the ladies were residing. On examination of the papers Suhas established that the lady was getting much less pension than her entitlement and that a visit to the the Banks Branch in the suburb of the metro city was called for. Suhas says that after talking to the staff at the Bank, he realised that they had no clue about anything and the total interpretation of all letters from the Government and their subsequent application was left to the lowest clerk of that Branch. Suhas explained the total case to the Branch manager and they promised to do the needful. After a while, the daughter of the elderly lady intimated Suhas that a sum of Rs Ten Lakhs and 25000 had been credited to her mothers account and that the pension had been revised upwards. Suhas visited them once again and realised that the Bank had deducted a sum of Rs1,25,000/- as income tax from the total entitlement of the lady. Suhas once again visited the Branch of the Bank and explained the provisions of Section-10(19) of the IT Act. This Section exempts the gallantry award winner pensioner/or his widow from paying any income tax on the pension. The Branch Manger was non co-operative and Suhas had to approach his higher ups and after a protracted perusal the lady was paid her entitled dues. The wife of the late Air marshal may have got her dues into her bank account, but she would never know it. She had now gone far into dementia and was living in an another world -all of her own. Who is responsible for this state of affairs? Who must be held accountable? Who must pay for the misery caused to the widow of a Gallantry award winner? Who will answer these questions. Probably no one.!! But one of us did step out. That one of us had the courage to spend his own time & money so that his Brothers in Arms or their families were not short changed. It is really so easy to crib but rising above ones own issues and helping others, again and again, needs some different mettele. Thank You Suhas ! You may write to Suhas on his email address :- . He is the President of AFAs Maharashtra Branch.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:48:50 +0000
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