The Pensions Department has instructed Divisional Secretaries countrywide that Government pensioners need to submit certificates of being alive for 2022 to the Divisional Secretary through their Grama Niladharis on or before March 31. If pensioners ignore these instructions, their pensions will not be paid from May, this year. The Pensions Department has made this requirement compulsory for all Government pensioners as close relatives of some dead pensioners have been obtaining the pensions illegally, Senior Divisional Secretary of the Kurunegala district, Administration, R.M. Jayaratne told the Sunday Observer.
Over Rs. 3 million is lost annually by the Government as a result of frauds committed by close relatives of dead government pensioners, he added.