Four years ago, when O.G. Gopal, who served at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) for 30 years, went missing from his house in Avadi, his wife G. Parvathy, and their two schoolgoing children were left to fend for themselves. Even a monthly pension of ₹9,000, which was entitled to her husband, was suspended by the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) of the Ministry of Defence. She would be able to claim the pension only if she could prove her husband was actually missing.
Clearly, Parvathy had been left in the lurch. Two months later, she approached the Avadi-based Ordnance Factories and Allied Establishments Pensioners’ Welfare Association (OF&AEPWA) for help.
After laborious paperwork, including getting FIR (First Information Report) copies and a non-traceable certificate from the Avadi police, with frequent reminders to the Allahabad-based PCDA — the Association managed to release the pension to Gopal’s family, nearly two years after he went missing.
In fact, the Association also managed to persuade the PCDA to pay the arrears from the date of filing the FIR at the local police station, which was, 11months of pension arrears.
“Gopal was not a member of the Association, but we decided to help the family out of compassion as he was its sole breadwinner,” says B. Gajapathy, the general secretary of the association.
Like Parvathy, many retired civilian staff of various defence organisations in the city and their families benefited from the Association since its formation on July 25, 1972. Recently, the Association celebrated its silver jubilee.
It was not just a celebration time but a grand reunion for 2,700 members of the Association, who came from far-flung towns and cities such as Tirunelveli, Madurai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Arakkonam, Tiruvallur and even Thrissur (Kerala).
“It was like a homecoming! Such occasions give us an opportunity to meet our old friends with whom we have worked for decades in the organisation,” says K. Karunakaran, a retired HVF employee from Thrissur.
In Chennai, Avadi has the largest number of defence establishments including CVRDE, HVF, OCF (Ordnance Clothing Factory), IAF, GE (Garrison Engineers), CQA (Controller of Quality Assurance), EFA (Engine Factory, Avadi), with more than 30,000 civilian staff employed there.
Around 60% of the residents in Avadi constitute retired defence personnel, mainly civilians.
Availing pensions and enrolling in government welfare schemes are the twin objectives of the Association, which began with a strength of 16 persons in 1972.