The Surat District Freedom Fighters Pensioners Association said that though the government had passed an order to increase pensions from August 15 last year, on the occasion of the completion of 50 years of the country's independence, many nationalised bank branches had still not credited the extra money to pensioners accounts.

The statement further stated that they welcomed the State government's decision to increase the pension of freedom fighters by Rs 25 with effect from August 1, 1997. ``The widows of those freedom fighters and sainiks who have died, are now financially better placed,'' said general secretary of the body Natwarlal H Soni.

Piyushbhai Trivedi, another official of the body, said that there had been a number of instances where either the money was not deposited or the pensioners or their dependents were not treated or their queries answered properly, both at the banks and the treasury offices.

Earlier, freedom fighters were treated at government run hospitals free, he said, adding ``This practise has stopped and the freedom fighters who had sacrificed so much for the country are neglected today.''

The body has asked its members to register their complaints at the organisation office in order to make a more forceful recommendation to the government.