On 13-1-2016, Government decided to set up a high-powered panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission which will have bearing on the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners. The Cabinet has approved the setting up of Empowered Committee of Secretaries to process the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission in an overall perspective, Parliamentary affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries will function as a Screening Committee to process the recommendations with regard to all relevant factors of the Commission in an expeditious detailed and holistic fashion, an official statement said.

The implementation of the new pay scales is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore on the exchequer in 2016-17. Subject to acceptance by the government, they will take effect from January 1, 2016. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier that he was not worried about fiscal deficit and government would be able to meet its target despite additional outgo on account of higher pay.

As reported earlier, Mr Rajeshkumar, son of our Member Mr. Elumalai, in Chennai STR branch lost his life during rescue operations after the floods in the city. Our Association decided to purchase two National Savings certificates of Rs 50,000 each in the name of the two small children of late Rajeshkumar. In a touching function organised by STR branch today, the Certificates were handed over to Mrs. Rajeshkumar. Everybody was in tears.

Smt. Anbarasi, wife of deceased Sri Rajeshkumar was honoured with shawl. Members stood up in silence and conveyed their feelings.

Comrades D Gopalakrishnan, T S Vittoban, V Rama Rao, M Govinda Rajan, A Sugumaran, S Narasimhan etc. spoke on the occasion. Mr. Elumalai, father of the deceased, explained the pain he had undergone on those days and thanked the Association for the help extended.

Occasionally, I am sending Email to our active members and leaders conveying the latest developments with regard to 78.2% case etc. I have a limited number of Email ID only with me at present. Sending Email is cheap and easy.Information will reach the addressees very quickly also.

When you get an information you should convey the same to at least ten people.I can send Email to 2000 people.If all of you repeat it to ten people each or convey it through personal contacts then, 20,000 members will get the information.

If you are really interested to join this Group, please send your Email ID to me in the following Email address:

psramankutty@rediffmail.com

With Regards,

P S Ramankutty

Meeting of the committee to review BSNL MRS was held on 8th January under the Chairmanship of Shri S.K. Sinha GM (Admn).

From the Staff Side, Com. Chandeshwar Singh, General Secretary NFTE and Com. Abhimanyu General Secretary, BSNLEU attended. Both NFTE and BSNELU have reported briefly the discussion held.

Staff Side leaders raised the difficulties faced by the staff as

(1)None of the good hospitals are ready to provide treatment on CGHS rates which are very low.

(2)In New Delhi, Same hospitals are empanelled for corporate office and NTR but the similar treatment are not available for NTR staff. The management side reported that difficulties are arising due to delay in payment of bills of concerned hospitals by NTR management.

Finally it was decided

1. Collect information from other PSUs like Coal India, SBI, BHEL etc to study how those organizations are dealing with the Medical issues.

2.To explore the systems of Mediclaim through insurance companies. Study of financial impact and other aspects are needed.

NOTE: PENSIONERS ARE BEING IGNORED IN SETTLING CLAIMS OF MRS EVERYWHERE. THE STAFF SIDE LEADERS DID NOT CARE TO RAISE THE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF PENSIONERS.

Our Chennai TD Circle comrades distributed the Flood Relief materials to the 51 students, affected by the recent flood, of Chennai Primary School at Vyasarpadi, Chennai- 600039.

On behalf of flood Relief Committee Coms DG, Muthiyalu, A Sukumaran, V Ramarao, M Ghouse Basha, S Sampathkumar, P Satyanarayana and S Killivalavan distributed uniform to 128 girls & 92 boys studying in 6 th Std to 11th Std in Govt. Higher secondary school, Kovilambakkam in South Chennai. The school was affected in the recent flood. More than 1600 students are studying in the school. The management has identified 400 students who are affected and very poor. We distributed 220 uniforms and 400 pouch with pencil, scale, eraser, sharpner. The management was very helpful and requested to provide Mike and bell if possible. The committee members reacted positively. DG/ KM/ AS/ VR /MG and SK spoke and inspired the students to study well and develop social consciousness. AHM Mrs Indani presided the meeting and expressed heartfelt thanks. For this purpose we have spent nearly 1.15 lakhs. In North Chennai Coms GN, MGR & Kannappan are distributing Mat, School bag, stainless steel plates to School students and Mat, Blankets to old age home affected by recent flood which cost about Rs,30,000/-.

Com. S Appa Rao, Treasurer, West Godvari of AP circle informs that today he has transferred a sum of Rs 42000 towards Chennai floods Relief fund. Earlier, Bhimavaram branch of the same District sent Rs 12000.

Hence the total donation from the District is Rs 54000.-

DPE ORDERS DATED 4-1-2016 ON IDA RATE FROM 1-1-2016

Please click on the links given below

ida-01012016-2007.pdf

ida-01012016-1997.pdf

RAJASTHAN CIRCLE UNIT OF AIBSNLPWA HAS DONATED Rs 15000

Com. R C Malhotra, AGS reports from Delhi:

The Cabinet Note has reached Secretary, Ministry Law on last Friday.

He has to record his views on the File. It is pending for his action.

In Central Services, the officials are confirmed only once in entire service.

But the PPO authorities in some cases insist on confirmation details at the time of granting Pension of such officials who got promotion not once but twice or thrice or even more. Because of this, the pension cases are delayed. Now, DoT has pointed out an old order to BSNL and said that pension should be granted to all officials without insisting on the confirmation details. There is no distinction between permanent and temporary officials in the matter of pension.

The letter from DoT to BSNL is given in the page: IMPORTANT ORDERS for the benefit of anyone affected.

IT was in first week of December 2015 that Chennai City and some other parts of Tamilnadu experienced the torrential rainfall of the century and subsequent floods. 15 lakh people were affected by the floods, as per official reports. Several parts were inundated. People jumped into immediate action to help their neighbours. Religion, Caste or Creed -nothing stood in their way in helping the victims.

Our Association also joined the efforts. There was no time to send an Appeal by post. Moreover, Com. Natarajan, GS was in Delhi those days. An appeal was issued through this Website only. Immediately, number of branches responded very positively.

Money came from all parts of India. It has crossed Rs Seven lakh. A committee was constituted to organize the relief work. The Committee identified meticulously the people really affected. More than 200 members of our Association are amongst them. Out of that, some people did not require any help as they themselves are able to face the aftermath of the calamity. The Committee provided some relief to the rest, who really needed it. Some schools and orphanages looking after the poor and destitute were identified. Relief was extended to them also. As reported earlier, Rupee One lakh is given to the family of Mr. Rajeshkumar, son of a member, who sacrificed his life in the rescue operations.

Our money has gone to the hands of those who were really affected and those who needed the help.

Details will be published soon.

Now, Chennai and other places are on the path of resilience. CHQ feels that we can stop collection of Fund for the above purpose. We have suggested the Committee to close the accounts by 10th January 2016.

Some branches have collected money but not sent the same to Chennai. Please do it before 8th January 2016. If not done, such branches may keep the money with them to utilize it in future for charity.

Hence, please stop further collection of donations towards Chennai Flood Relief Fund.

(G NATARAJAN)

General Secretary

A get-together of BSNL retirees was organised by the new branch of AIBSNLPWA in Mathura (UP West) yesterday. Shri G P Tripathy, GMTD, Mathura attended and graced the occasion. Shri Bhu Dev Prasad Sharma, the senior-most pensioner was honoured by the GM.

Photos given below show the GMTD speaking & honouring Sh Sharma

2-1-16: Relief work in Chennai

The NE District Unit of our Associaion in Chennai today held a meeting of our activists and victims of the recent floods. Smt Devaki (DGM) and Shri Rajendran (DE) of Kalmandapam, in addition to Com. Natarajan (GS), Govindarajan (CS), Murthy (Circle Pres.), Kannappan (Treasurer) etc, attended the function. Relief materials were distributed to 11 members who were badly affected by the floods.

COM. A B BARDHAN, VETERAN COMMUNIST AND TRADE UNION LEADER PASSED AWAY TODAY IN DELHI. HE WAS 92.

WE CONVEY OUR HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES.

From his early days Com. Ardhendhu Bhushan Bardhan was a committed trade union activist and fiery orator in Nagpur. He moved to Delhi to become General Secretary of CPI for 16 years. A leader who belonged to the "old generation communists", who was in jail for more than 20 times, Com. Bardhan will be remembered for his great contributions to the trade union movement in India.

RED SALUTE, COMRADE.

Madurai Dist has Rs 4500 more. Their Total contribution is Rs 63200.

Bhimavaram (AP) has sent a sum of Rs 12000.

In a landmark judgment, the Himachal Pradesh High Court Wednesday directed the central government to provide full medical benefits, including reimbursements of medical emergencies, to employees post-retirement.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Rajiv Sharma and Sureshwar Thakur passed the orders while dismissing an appeal filed by the central government, challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in favour of Shankar Lal Sharma who underwent heart surgery post-retirment and incurred an expenditure of Rs 1.80 lakh – which the government declined to reimburse.

In a 101-page order handed down by Justice Sharma, the court ruled that right to health is a human right and questioned as how could the government, a principal employer, abdicate the responsibility of taking care of the health of its retired employees.

Denial of reimbursements of medical expenses amounts to violation of rights of the employee, the court added. The order observed that “a socialist state, as the Preamble depicts, is the basic structure of the Constitution of India “.
“Similarly, the welfare state is the basic feature of the Constitution. There is a difference between basic structure and basic features of the Constitution. The action of the Union of India not to reimburse the medical bills to the respondent (Shankar Lal Sharma) and also not giving option to him and similarly situate persons residing in a city not covered under CGHS is illegal, arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory, thus, violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India.”

Using the legal maxim Salus populi suprema lex esto, the bench said “the health of the people should be supreme law.” The order further reads: “A serving employee, who enjoys benefits under the CS(MA) Rules, 1944, cannot be left high and dry immediately after retirement for want of medical care. His medical issues are required to be looked into with more sensitivity, compassion and sympathy. His genuine requirements for medical treatment cannot be permitted to be buried in the labyrinth of red tapism.

The court further held that it was the prime responsibility of the state to protect the health and vigour of retired government officials, this being their fundamental right under Article 21, read with Articles 39(3), 41, 43, 48-A of the Constitution.

[From INDIAN EXPRESS 31-12-2015]

Our Cuddalore District (in TN Circle) comrades have done a noble work. They visited two poor homes in the town, badly affected by the recent floods.

(1) The Service Home accommodates 160 poor inmates aged between 14 and 45 years.

(2) The Government Orphanage with 102 poor kids.

As suggested by the management of the two institutions, our people purchased buckets, mugs and scarf for the inmates and supplied to each individual. Comrades P Jayaraman, Chandramohan, Thirugnanam, K Ravindran, K Ilankovan, G Asokan and Haja Kamaludeen representing AIBSNLPWA visited the Poor Homes and handed over the materials officially.

Two photos are given below