The National Pensioners Day was observed in Kozhikode in a befitting manner on 17-12-2015.  This year, Pensioners’ associations of nine sectors viz, Central Govt Pensioners (CGPA), BSNL DOT Pensioers (AIBDPA), Postal & RMS (AIPRPA), LIC (LICPA), Banks (AKBRF), KSEB (KSEBPA), KSRTC (KSRTCPO), Kerala Water Authority (KWAPO), and FCI (FCIPU) joined together in observing the Pensioners Day.A Well attended meeting at the Town Hall, presided by Com Sukumaran Punnassery  was inaugurated by Com V Sreekumar (President Confederation of CG Employees, Kerala). Representatives of the participating Associations/ Organizations  also spoke on the occasion.  Com K Rajan  welcomed the gathering and Com E Venugopal proposed vote of thanks.

The following District Branches in Kerala have donated to the Relief Fund.

1.Alappuzha; Rs.2000

2.Palakad; Rs.2000

3.Kollam  :Rs.2500.

These amounts were remitted to the bank account of Tamil Nadu Circle.

Three Service chiefs will soon meet Defence Minister to express the forces’ concerns over shortcomings in the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission

The three Service chiefs will soon meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to express the forces’ concerns over “shortcomings” in the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.

The armed forces are of the view that if the Pay Commission is implemented in its present form, it will position them much below their civilian counterparts in terms of salaries, facilities and status.

One of the main grudges that the armed forces have is with regard to the risk-hardship matrix.

The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world which poses great risk and hardship, will get an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 per cent of his salary as “hardship allowance” when posted anywhere outside the “comfort zone”.

Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in north east India will draw much more as “hardship allowance” when compared to the Rs 31,500 per month that military officers posted in Siachen are to receive.

A total of 869 Indian soldiers have died in Siachen since 1984 due to various factors, including the hostile conditions there.

Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan was the first among the three service chiefs to officially comment on the Pay Commission report.”

Whatever we feel are the shortcomings are being taken up by the three services with the Ministry of Defence to see that whatever we feel is necessary for our men, our officers, our civilians, is made available to them,” Dhowan had said here on December 3

New Rules for Cancellation and Refund of Railway Tickets

Under normal circumstances no refund is granted on confirmed, RAC and Waitlisted tickets after the departure of the train.

With effect from 12.11.2015, certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended and comprehensive Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules 2015 have been notified through Gazette Notification G.S.R. 836(E). dated 04.11.2015.

Important changes made in Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules are as under:-

Refund on cancellation of unused confirmed tickets:

(i) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation upto 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, per passenger minimum cancellation charge is levied

. (ii). If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and upto 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, 25% cancellation charges is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.

(iii) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 12 hours and upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train irrespective of distance, 50% cancellation charge is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge.

(iv). Refund on confirmed ticket is granted only upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train.

(B). Refund on cancellation of unused RAC/Wait-listed tickets/Partially confirmed tickets:-

(i). When RAC/Waitlisted ticket/Partially confirmed tickets is presented for cancellation, the refund of fare minus clerkage charge is made upto 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

Certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended to check bogus claims, to facilitate provision of Mobile ticketing as well as paperless ticketing, discourage last minute cancellation resulting in seats/berths going vacant etc. The amendment in refund rules became necessary to adapt to changes/developments in the ticketing systems.

Further, reservation charts are being prepared at least 4 hours in advance, which facilitates purchase of available berths till 30 minutes before departure of the train.

No cancellation charge or clerkage charges is levied and full fare is refunded to all passengers holding confirmed, RAC and Wait-listed tickets if the journey is not undertaken due to late running of the train by more than three hours of scheduled departure of the train from the journey commencing station, subject to the condition that the ticket is surrendered prior to the actual departure of the train

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 11.12.2015.

Dear Comrades,

Com.Sampath Rao Julapally, Circle Secretary, BSNLEU, Andhra Pradesh who took the initiative to host the 2nd triennial All India Conference of AIBDPA at Tirupati along with Com.Ramachandradu, Circle Secretary, AIBDPA, AP have appealed to help Reception Committee by collecting advertisements to the Souvenir.

The Reception Committee under the able leadership of Com. Sampath Rao Julapally is making all out efforts to make the AIC a grand success. We can just imagine the huge expenditure to arrange the accommodation, food and other necessary facilities for about 1000 delegates. Souvenir advertisement is one source of income. An illustrative leaflets with tariff have been despatched to the Circle Secretaries.

CHQ requests all the functionaries and well wishers to co-operate in this endeavour by collecting maximum advertisements and send the order forms and payments to the reception committee without delay.

The tariff for the advertisement is given below;

Back Cover Page; Rs.50,000. 1st Inner cover Page: Rs.50,000, Back Inner Cover Page: Rs.40,000. Colour Full Page: Rs.20,000, Half Page: Rs.10,000, Quarter Page:Rs.5,000 Black & White Full Page: Rs.10000, Half Page: Rs.5,000 Quarter Page: Rs.3,000. 

K.G.Jayaraj

General Secretary

A meeting of BSNL DOT pensioners of Fatehpur SSA in UP (East) circle was held at Fatehpur on 03-12-2015  under the presidentship of Com.Lallu Prasasd Mishra. Com.R.K.Dwivedi, Circle Secretary inaugurated the meeting. Com.Babu Lal Pal, District Secretary, BSNLEU addressed. New District Branch was formed with unanimous election of office bearers.

The following are the important functionaries.

President: Com. Lallu Prasad Mishra, District Secretary: Com.Ramakant Sharma and Treasurer: Com. Jamuna Prasad Tiwari.

The developments in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Mali, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Somalia as well as in Middle East, in Syria, the threats against Iran etc. unfortunately prove that the imperialist forces are ruthless.
No people are safe, as long as the imperialist aggressiveness intensifies. These wars are taking place for the oil, the gas, the uranium, the gold etc. and have no relation with the excuses about “wars for democracy”, “war against terrorism”, “war against nuclear threat” etc. If the enemy does not exist, he is manufactured.
The WFTU denounces the terrorist organizations and the acts of terrorism. These groups were created, trained and equipped by the imperialist forces. Their activity is aiming to destabilize the countries of Africa and the Middle East, to prepare the ground for the intervention of the imperialist powers in the internal affairs of the countries.
The action against the monopolies and imperialist is crucial in this direction. The global capitalism, especially in the European Union and the USA is continuously drowning in the international capitalist crisis dealing with its own contradictions. As this life and death competition of the big monopolies intensifies, they look for new resources for energy, minerals, other resources and compete for the control of regions and territories. Fostering terrorism, internal conflicts and civil wars they want to persevere, bring chaos and control the economies and the governments of the countries.
The WFTU calls in joint action against the imperialist aggressiveness. Each people has the right to choose his present and future without foreign intervention.

THE SECRETARIAT

The WFTU General Secretary, George Mavrikos, addressed the COSATU Congress today, on November 25th, 2015. In his speech he underlined: “We are not yesterday friends, we are not temporary colleagues… We are old comrades, we’re fighting side by side since the founding of WFTU” he also called the South-African people to continue their struggles, to strengthen the class-oriented unions against monopolies and capitalism.

During his speech he emphasized on the aim of the foreign interventions aiming to paralyze the workers’ movement in South Africa in order to exploit the natural wealth of the country and officially announced that the 17th WFTU Congress will be held in S. Africa hosted by COSATU and all other WFTU affiliates.

In an honorary move, on behalf of the WFTU leadership, the WFTU delegation awarded comrade Eric (Stalin) Mtshali for his contribution in the development of the class-oriented movement.

Also the WFTU delegation hold a meeting with the leadership of South African Communist Party in a spirit of comradeship, where matters of bilateral interest were discussed.

During the congress the creator of the 3rd winning poster of  WFTU Poster Competition, Austin Mutsaa, was also awarded for his efforts.