Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Dr L Murugan inaugurated the 206th SPARSH Outreach programme of the Defence Accounts Department in Tiruchirappalli on 30 June 2025. More than 6000 defence pensioners and family pensioners from Trichy and the nearby districts attended this mega event.
In his inaugural address, Minister Dr L Murugan stated that defence pensioners and defence family pensioners constitute almost 65% of the Central Government’s Pension Budget and 57% of the total 56 lakh pensioners/family pensioners of the Central Government belong to the Armed Forces. He added that this SPARSH system will help the defence pensioners and family pensioners for easy and smooth access and get their work done from the comfort of their homes.
The Highlight of the function was the flagging off of FIVE SPARSH Mobile vans by the Union Minister. These fully equipped SPARSH Mobile Vans will travel to all the districts in Tamil Nadu for the next ten days starting tomorrow and redress the grievances of the defence pensioners and family pensioners at their very doorstep. Dr L. Murugan also gave away cheques worth Rs 1.50 crores to 14 defence pensioners and family pensioners whose grievances were redressed in quick time.
Dr Mayank Sharma Controller General of Defence Accounts, Lt Gen Karanbir Singh Brar, GOC, HQrs Dakshin Bharat Area and Thiru Nainar Nagendran, MLA were also graced the occasion.
Shri T. Jayaseelan, Controller of Defence Accounts, Chennai delivered the welcome address. He stated that 75 counters were put up along with computers, printers, scanners, finger print devices and internet for attending to the defence pensioners and family pensioners. Along with 200 Grievance Officers of CDA Chennai organization, representatives from PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj, Record Offices, Public Sector Banks and other agencies attended to the SPARSH related grievances of the defence pensioners and family pensioners.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mayank Sharma, Controller General of Defence Accounts, New Delhi stated that the SPARSH system essentially places the pensioner at the core and is user friendly, accessible through the web and seamless interaction. The system and the software are being updated continuously so that the pensioner is able to find it very easy to handle from the comfort of his home.
Lt Gen Karanbir Singh Brar, GOC, Hqrs Dakshin Bharat Area, Chennai also spoke on the occasion.