Former ADA employees write to PM Modi, seeks pension

New Delhi : The former Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) employees on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to extend the benefit of government pension (CCS Pension 1972) to employees who have joined the ADA before January 1st, 2004.

“Our humble request to the honourable Prime minister is to direct the concerned authorities immediately for the implementation of the Government pension scheme (CCS Pension 1972) to the limited number of 373 ADA Employees who joined ADA before 1-1-2004. This number of 373 includes the already retired (superannuated) /demised cases also who reported before 1-1-2004,” K. Jayaprakash Rao, former DRDO scientist and ADA retired employee, said in the letter.

“In line with the current policy of Government of India, ADA is allowing the benefit of New Pension Scheme(NPS) to those who joined ADA service on or after 1-1-2004. The CPF benefit currently allowed to ADA employees who joined ADA prior to 2004 is not at all comparable with the Government pensionary benefits allowed to their counter parts with same footing but working in other regular departments. As a result it has become very difficult for this category of employees to lead a financially comfortable or secured life after retirement from ADA,” K. Nagaraja, former president , ADA employees welfare associations said in the letter.

The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) was established in 1984 with the objective of designing and developing an indigenous State of the art Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as a national project. Considering the importance of the project from Strategic and National Security angles ADA was established as a society under the Ministry of Defence primarily to allow functional autonomy in executing the project.

Keeping in view the importance of this national project the General Body of ADA is constituted with the Defence Minister as President , Finance Minister as Vice President and Chief of Air Staff , Chief of Naval Staff, Secretaries of Defence, Secretary (Exp) Ministry of Finance and others as members.(ANI)