CDNS told to facilitate senior citizens, widows

Federal Ombudsman Tahir Shahbaz on Wednesday directed the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) and the finance ministry to facilitate senior citizens and widows by transferring the profits on their saving certificates into their personal bank accounts.

Chairing a meeting to review a CDNS reforms progress report issued by the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat, Shahbaz also ordered the CDNS to issue ATM cards to its customers so that they could draw their profits whenever they wanted.

“The CDNS is a reliable source of long-term funding to the government and a widespread distribution network that protects the savings of senior citizens, widows and pensioners in a rightful manner,” the ombudsman observed.

He also expressed his concerns over the difficulties faced by senior citizens and widows while drawing profits on their saving certificates at CDNS centres.

Finance ministry’s Senior Joint Secretary Javed Iqbal and CDNS Director General Muhammad Khalil gave a detailed briefing on the implementation of the reforms.

The finance ministry official informed the ombudsman that although the CDNS was a government department, but it had been declared autonomous.

The CDNS director general said the directorate had 376 branches of which 153 had been completely computerised and the remaining would be automated by the end of December this year.

He said the holders of the Shuhda Family Welfare Accounts, widows, senior citizens and disabled persons were particularly facilitated at the centers.

“ATM cards have also been designed and would be issued to consumers as soon as all the branches are computerised,” he added.

The ombudsman asked the CDNS authorities to facilitate customers in drawing their profits from any centre in the country.

“The CDNS must obtain the bank accounts details of every certificate holder to transfer their profits into their accounts,” he added.

The ombudsman also appointed Federal Ombudsman Secretariat Additional Secretary Sohail Ahmed as the focal person on CDNS to monitor its progress. He also directed the directorate to submit its progress report after every 15 days to the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat.

The government has revised rates of profit by up to 36 basis points on the Pensioner Benefit Account, Shuhada Family Welfare Account and Behbood Saving Certificates to 10.32% to benefit investors and encourage them to invest more in such instruments.

The CDNS, which offers saving certificates to individual investors, reinvests the money in government papers like Pakistan Investment Bonds and treasury bills.

The rate of profit on Defence Saving Certificates was increased by 34 basis points to 8.44% while the rate of profit on Regular Income Certificates was revised upwards by 20 basis points to 7.80%.

(With input from APP)