May 23:Adm R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) in his capacity as President of Navy Foundation presided over the 29th Governing Council Meeting and Annual General Meeting of Navy Foundation, a Retired Naval Officers organization registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, at Goa on 22 May 22.
Adm Arun Prakash (Retd) and Adm KB Singh (Retd); Patrons of Navy Foundation along with Presidents/ Vice Presidents/ Secretaries of the 16 Navy Foundation Chapters spread across the country represented the retired officers of their respective Chapters. In addition, members of the NF Goa Chapter participated in the meeting that was also live-streamed for the outstation retired officers.
The meeting included presentations by Mr. ZVS Prasad PCDA (Navy) and Mr. Sham Dev, CDA (P) on the e-PPOs and SPARSH, respectively. PCDA (Navy) clarified the doubts of the Navy Foundation on the e-PPOs and emphasized that his team would resolve all issues. CDA (Pension) Allahabad addressed the issues pertaining to SPARSH and informed us that improvements in the system were being incorporated progressively. Both the presentations were well received by the attendees. Concerns about ECHS were also addressed during the meeting and a presentation was made by ECHS (N) on the subject.
The CNS launched HANDSHAKE — a web-enabled software application that will facilitate interaction/ search for friends/ course mates/ batchmates for the Serving and the retired personnel as also between retired personnel. The application would also serve as an ESM Directory.
The incorporation of the 17th Chapter of the Navy Foundation at Bhopal was approved by the Governing Council.
VAdm AB Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command graced the occasion in his capacity as President of Regional Governing Council West while Vice Admiral Suraj Berry, Controller Personnel Services, Vice President Navy Foundation also attended the meeting.
In his concluding remarks, Adm R Hari Kumar reiterated his and the Navy’s resolve to address all concerns expeditiously. He also lauded the efforts of various NFs towards Nation Building as well as keeping the retired officer community as a closely-knit family. The GCM and AGM were, in any case, an interaction between the ‘Force’ and ‘the Force behind the Force’.
