New PAO complex for Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre at Delhi Cantt
The Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Shri Rajnish Kumar inaugurated the new office building of the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) for the Rajputana Rifles Regimental Centre (RRRC) in Delhi Cantonment, in the presence of General Officer Commanding (GOC) Delhi Area Lieutenant General V K Mishra and Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Western Command Shri Devi Ram Negi, and senior officers of the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) and Indian Army.
The PAO, which functions under the administrative control of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) Western Command, handles more than 23,500 Individual Running Ledger Accounts (IRLAs) of Personnel Below Officer Ranks (PBORs) of Rajputana Rifles Regiment of the Indian Army and manages the disbursement of nearly Rs 160 Crores per month. A PAO is responsible for the audit and payment of various claims and allowances of the Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs)/Other Ranks (ORs) including their monthly pay, as per entitlement.
The CGDA in his address highlighted the ongoing effort to complete business process re-engineering of the Defence Accounts Department, across its various avenues of function, namely, financial advice, payment, accounting, and internal audit. Urging the Department to move towards financial administration with a humane approach, he outlined the various initiatives of DAD such as PRABAL which is being designed to facilitate faster payment to domestic vendors and assist the Indian Defence Industry towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat, as well as a Comprehensive Pay System (CPS) to bring efficiency and transparency in the management of pay and allowances of the Indian Armed Forces.
It is also a matter of immense pride that the PAO also maintains the IRLA for disbursement of regular pay and allowances for the first Indian track and field individual Olympic Gold Medallist Subedar Neeraj Chopra, along with two other Olympians who brought laurels to the country in the last Olympics at Tokyo, Japan.
Individual pay accounts are maintained by PAOs right from enrolment till the cessation of service. This ensures that the account remains static in one office despite all the transfers/ movements of the Army personnel. Various changes to their entitlements are notified by Record Office and Unit, where they are serving, by Daily Part II orders which are sent to the PAO for incorporating the financial effect in the accounts.
The foundation stone for the building was laid by Defence Secretary Shri Ajay Kumar in March 2020 and has been built in record time, despite the challenges posed by the covid pandemic over the last two years.
Prior to the construction of the new building, the office of PAO (ORs) RRRC was functioning in a barrack-type hutted accommodation with limited space. The new office building will cater for a separate reception centre with a single-window operating system to address the grievances of the Personnel Below Officer Ranks (PBORs). The office also holds the distinction of being the first PAO to implement Project SPARSH successfully from August 2021 and will soon implement the new Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for the jawans, which was prototyped and launched recently by PCDA Bengaluru.
Disclaimer : This is an official press release by PIB.
