MEDICAL ALLOWANCE, PENSION REVISION...
GENERAL SECRETARY IN NEW DELHI
Com. G Natarajan, our GS is in Delhi from Fourth July
onwards. After attending the Delhi circle conference today he will return to
Chennai. During these days GS many officers in BSNL and DOT. Com. Anupam
Kaul, AGS, Com. J S Dahiya, AGS, Com. R L Kapoor and others accompanied GS in
these meetings.
Medical allowance:
As all know, in April last year, quarterly medical
allowance was restored for pensioners, due to our persistent persuasion. First,
it was allowed up to September 2017; then it was extended up to March 2018.
Sufficient fund was not allotted by Corporate Office. Hence many pensioners
have not yet received the allowance. After March 2018, neither allowance is
granted nor vouchers are accepted. Filed offices do not know what to
do.Corporate Office has not issued any order on it. From the talks GS had with
Director (HR), GM (Admn), etc. it is understood that Corporate Office has not
taken any decision whether the allowance should be continued or withdrawn after
March 2018. It is unfortunate. It is told to GS that BSNL will take a decision
very shortly.
Pension Revision:
GS and others met the member (Services) in DOT and
discussed about pension revision. Detailed discussion took place with Director
(Estt) on 6-7-2018 on it. It is understood that our demand for pension revision
with VII CPC fitment benefit is being referred to Department of Pension and
Pensioners Welfare shortly. Along with our demand, DOT is pointing out that
pension revision has taken place in the past after pay revision. It is a wrong
notion. But, DoT is not willing to change its stand. Some other organizations
too had such wrong notion and hence they demanded pension revision also with
PRC fitment benefit. DoT took advantage of their demand.
Those organizations realized their blunder and
changed their demand subsequently. Now they all want delinking pension revision
from pay revision. It is good. But damage was already done. Linking our Pension
Revision with Wage Revision in BSNL with III PRC recommendations is dangerous.
Wage Negotiation Committee is recently constituted. We do not know when the negotiation
on Pay Revision will start and finish. Final outcome is quite uncertain.
Employees have bitter experiences. BSNL was formed in 2000. Even after 18
years, there is no pension scheme for the directly recruited BSNL employees.
They are getting pittance as pension. (A lady retired in 2017 after 16 years of
service is getting only Rs 1311 as pension. Her income is suddenly reduced from
Rs 45000 to Rs 1311 per month!)
Against this background, linking of our Pension
Revision with Pay Revision in BSNL is detrimental to all of us. It is high time
for all organizations to understand the danger and move together. I hope better
sense will prevail on all.
I find an improvement in the situation. Till this
time DoT was silent on our demand. Deliberately DoT did not disclose their
approach. Now something is known. GS is successful to find out the position. He
could collect a copy of one letter written by Minister Shri Manoj Sinha to one
MP on the pension revision. In that letter also it is indicated that pension revision
will be taken up only after pay revision of serving staff.
As such, pension revision is not easy. We have to
struggle a lot.
….. P S Ramankutty