. The central cabinet has approved the proposal of the Petroleum
Ministry to hike the price of domestically produced natural gas to
$8/mmbtu from April,2014 from the current $4.2.
Retail consumers will be badly affected as they will have to pay more
for electricity,compressed natural gas used as auto fuel and piped
natural gas for cooking.Fertilizer price also will be badly impacted
and this will raise government’s subsidy burden.
Who is the beneficiary of this steep hike;it is none other than the
Reliance Industries
For Reliance Industries,the KG-D6 price of $4.2/mmBtu is valid till
March,2014, and the new price become effective from April,2014.
Every dollar’s increase in gas price impacts Reliance’s revenue by
$100 million and profit by $74 million.
For some time lonf Reliance was pressurising the Petrolem ministry for
increasing the price of natural. gas only for more profit and the new
Minister despite stiff opposition from the top officials was ready to
agree to the Reliace’s demand.
So once again,the Manmohan Singh led UPA government has proved
that it is the government for the corporates and by the corporates!

The Comtroller And Auditor General has slammed the Department of
Telecom for allowing intr-circle roaming arrangements for 2G spectrum
which caused huge loss to the excheuer.This was also the reason for the
lacklustre response to the government’s recent attempts to auction
second-generation airwaves.
The audit note sent to DOT has blamed various decisions of the
Telecom ministry for the lukewarm response to the government’s
attempt to sell 2G airwaves in November,2012 and Mach,2013.
The CAG ,earlier had said. that THE 2G AUCTIOND HAD FLOUNDERED
AS THE TELECOM COMPANIES ACTED AS A CARTEL AND THE GOVT.
WITTINGLY OR UNWITTINGLY,AIDED THE COMPNIES BY NOT ACTING
AGAINST THEM.
In the latest audit note, the CAG has stated that the policy note issued
in 2008 during the tenure of former telecom minister A.Raja,led to loss
of thousands of crore to the excheuer since the operators have been
sharing spectrum under the garb of intr-circle roaming arrangements
without paying spectrum usage charges.
Now the Empowered Group of Ministers has asked TRAI to recommend
within 60 days the fresh(reduced) reserve prices for the ensuing auction
of airwaves.The Cellular Operators Association of India has welcomed the
decision and even offered help to Trai to fix the reserve price.
It is better to ask the private telecom companies to fix the price themselves
And that would be the ideal way of serving the corporates!o

Finance Minister P.Chidambaram has stated that India could lift
Foriegn Direct Investment caps on various sectors by the 3rd
week of July,2013.
The foriegn institutional investors have sold $6.2 billion worth
of stocks and bonds in this month so far,depreciating the rupee
further and hitting share prices.
The Mayaram panel has recommended raising FDI caps in
various sectors including multi-brand retail upto 74%,
Defence production to upto 49%,
Telecom to upto 100% _and Pension and Insurance sectors
are also in the list.
Whether these measures being implemented at the dictates of
the Multinational Companies and other foriegn powers are going
to stabilize the Indian economy which has already gone down as
the GDP 5% and the rupee to record all time low of 59.98 against
dollar is to anybody’s guess.

The Central government has been proposing to divest. 5 per cent of its stake in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation for some time long.But they were not able to do so due to the stiff resistence of the workers and opposition of j Tamilnadu state government.
Now,Tamilnadu state Chief Minister Ms.Jayalalitha has stated she had written three letters to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention to avoid the disinvestment in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd and has received a reply to the effect that the disinvestment cannot be avoided.It iis in this backdrop and also in the wake of the proposed strike by the workers that the Chief Minister offered Centre to
buy 5% shares of NLCL to avoid any private participation in the CPSU.
Now it is to be seen whether the central government will accept the offer or opt for
privsate participation.

ALL INDIA BSNL DOT PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION

[Registered No. S/68836/2010]

Central Head QuartersD-7, Telegraph Place, Gole Market, New Delhi  110 001

Advisor : V.A.N. Namboodiri President: Ananta Kr. Bhattacharjee

Patron : P.V. Chandrasekharan General Secretary: K.G.Jayaraj

011 – 23343388, 09447455633

Circular No.3/2013             24^th June, 2013

To All CHQ Office bearers,Circle Secretaries,Affiliates and District Secretaries.

Dear Comrade,

As you may be aware I have joined CHQ on 14^th June, 2013 and shall continue here upto 5^th July.

78.2% IDA fixation.

In the wake of the proposed indefinite strike by Forum of BSNL Unions / Associations from 12.06.2013, the DOT issued the Presidential order on 10^th June, 2013 granting 78.2% IDA fixation and subsequently BSNL has also issued the order on the same date. It is a great achievement and victory for the unity of all the unions and the determination to fight.

Regarding the pensioners, the order issued covers the post 2007 pensioners and still some clarifications would be necessary. For the pre 2007 pensioners separate order has to be issued. Immediately after reaching New Delhi, General Secretary Com. K.G. Jayaraj and Com. V.A.N. Namboodiri, Advisor had a meeting with the Member (Finance) and Member (Services) of the DOT on 14.06.2013 and have urged them to issue the orders for the pensioners. Both have agreed to do the needful. We have brought to their notice, the acute shortage of staff in all the offices of the CCAs. General Secretary has also written a detailed letter to the Secretary, DOT covering the above issues. BSNLEU and the Forum are also pursuing the issue.

Tele Pensioner.

The printing of Tele Pensioner, April – June issue is delayed due to some unforeseen reasons and hope to dispatch by end of this month.

Agitational Programme.

CHQ congratulates all the units for effectively implementing the decision of the All India Conference held at Kannur on 6^th & 7^th February, 2013, by submitting Charter of Demands to CGMT/CCA and PGMT/GMT at the respective level and organizing mass demonstration on 15.05.2013. However despite repeated requests, only a few circles and districts have sent the reports.

Organise Dharna on 29.08.2013.

The third phase of agitational programme decided by the AIC on the Charter of Demands is Dharna in August 2013, date of which was decided to be later. Now CHQ has decided to conduct the Dharna at Circle and District levels on 29^th August, 2013. All the units are requested to conduct the Dharna successfully mobilizing maximum pensioners and send the reports to CHQ promptly.

Donate Liberally to Uttarakhand Relief Fund.

Torrential rains and flash floods have put the state of Uttarakhand in a most devastating position. Many people lost their lives and so many rendered homeless. Apart from the people of Uttarakhand thousands of pilgrims are also affected. Nearly 800 are dead, 70000 missing and 60000 stranded. The causality may be more considering the slow process of relief operations mainly due to lack of disaster management and bad weather. The relief activities by the government alone will not be sufficient to meet the grim situation. So it is the bounden duty of every citizen to contribute their mite in this hour of distress. CHQ is of the opinion that we being the senior citizens have more responsibility to respond positively to this noble cause and appeal to all to donate liberally, not less than Rs.100/- to the Uttarakhand relief fund. Circle and District Secretaries are requested to make the collection immediately and rush to CHQ by remittance in SBI SB A/c No.31211446886 with prompt intimation of the details for issuing the receipts. The amount received will be handed over to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund or some special Relief Fund that may be constituted for this purpose.

Membership Campaign.

The AIC held at Kannur had taken a decision to organize membership campaign in all the districts and the Circle units to decide suitable period for the same according to local conditions. Tele Pensioner subscription drive was also to be undertaken simultaneously. Circle Secretaries are requested to send a report to CHQ, on the progress made in this regard.

Thanking you,

Yours fraternally,

K G Jayaraj

General Secretary

ALL INDIA BSNL DOT PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION

[Registered No. S/68836/2010]

Central Head Quarters

D-7, Telegraph Place, Gole Market, New Delhi – 110 001

Advisor : V.A.N. Namboodiri President: Ananta Kr. Bhattacharjee

Patron : P.V. Chandrasekharan General Secretary: K.G.Jayaraj

011 – 23343388, 09447455633

AIBDPA/DOT/2013           June 24, 2013

 To

Shri M. F. Farooqui

Secretary, Department of Telecommunications

Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi- 110 001

 Sir,

 Sub: – Pension revision consequent on 78.2% IDA fixation to the pre 2007 and post 2007 BSNL absorbed DoT retirees – request for issuing orders – reg.

Ref: – DoT order No.61-01/2012-SU dated 10.06.2013

 On behalf of our Association, let me express our sincere gratitude for approval of 78.2% IDA fixation for the executives and non-executive employees of BSNL, as on 01.01.2007 with prospective effect from 10.06.2013 vide order referred to above.

 The order automatically covers the post 2007 BSNL retirees. But still an operational clarificatory order is required to be issued for processing the cases by the CCAs. In this connection the following points are brought to your notice.

 Firstly the pay of post 2007 BSNL retirees are to be refixed in the revised payscale as on 01.01.2007 with the revised formula. Then periodical regulation of pay with annual increments and then arrive at last pay drawn for working out pension at 50% of the last pay drawn.

 Separate order may kindly be issued for the pension revision of pre 2007 BSNL retirees. For these section of pensioners, the procedure is comparatively simple. Their pension can be directly revised applying the new formula.

 It is a fact that there are acute shortage of staff in almost all CCA units and previous pension revision cases as per the order No.40-17/2008-Pen(T) Vol.III dated 15.03.2011 are yet to be completed. Therefore adequate remedial measures are to be initiated to resolve the shortage of staff in the CCA units. Meanwhile, for the pre 2007 pension revision cases, the Pension Disbursing Authorities may be authorized to revise the pension directly providing them Ready Reckoner Table to ensure speedy settlement. This procedure was successfully adopted in the cases of pension revision of Central Government Pensioners as per the 6^th Central Pay Commission recommendations. However in respect of post 2007, the usual procedure of sending the cases from the SSAs with revised pay details for pension revision to the CCAs cannot be discounted.

 Minimum Pension / Family Pension to be enhanced to Rs.3,880/-

 When the pension revision order was issued vide No.40-17/2008-Pen(T) Vol-III dated 15.03.2011, vide para 4.4 the minimum pension / family pension was limited to Rs.3,500/- where as the minimum pension/family pension for BSNL retirees was to be Rs.3,880/- which is 50% of the minimum of the lowest pay scale in BSNL. The lowest scale in BSNL is 7760-13320 which is given along with other payscales in the Annexure A of the above order.

 This Association had promptly pointed out this mistake to the then Secretary, DoT vide our letter No.AIBDPA/DOT/02-2012 dated 25.03.2011 and had requested for early correction. Further reminders were submitted vide our letters dated 26.05.2012, 07.07.2012 and 28.03.2013 but of no avail. However in between this period, we had a discussion on this issue with Shri S.C. Misra, Member (Services) who argued that the minimum pension and maximum pension are decided by Government of India and cannot be changed.

 We had pointed out that this argument does not hold good for the following reasons.

 BSNL Pensioners are being paid the pension on this basis of Rule 37 A of CCS Pension Rules 1972.

 BSNL is a Public Sector unit and are given IDA pay scales and the pension also is drawn on IDA pay scales.

Minimum Pension/family pension of Rs.3,500/- is applicable to the Central Government Pensioners based on CDA scales.

DoT order No.F.40-31 (2008-Pen(T) dated 12.08.2009 addressed to all principal CCAs and CMD, BSNL has given clear directive for drawing minimum pension and family pension to the BSNL absorbed retirees as reproduced below:

The present method of calculation of minimum pension which is 50% of the minimum of the lowest pay scale shall continue.

The minimum family pension shall be 50% of the minimum of the lowest payscale.”

Therefore it is requested that based on the above factors the minimum pension/family pension may be corrected to Rs.3,880/- and be incorporated in the order being issued for the pension revision on 78.2% IDA fixation.

 Awaiting early favourable action and

 Thanking you

 Yours faithfully

 K.G. Jayaraj

 General Secretary

 Copy to: (1) Ms. Sadhana Dikshit, Member (Finance), Telecom Commission.

 (2) Shri S.C. Misra, Member (Services), Telecom Commission.

(3) Shri V. Umasankar, Joint Secretary (T), Department of Telecom.

 (4) Com. P. Abhimanyu, GS, BSNLEU, New Delhi.

Meeting with Additional Secretary, DOT

Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener, Forum & Advisor AIBDPA and K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary, AIBDPA met Smt. Rita Teotia, Additional Secretary, DOT and discussed the issue of orders on 78.2% IDA fixation for the BSNL pensioners retired before 01-01-2007. They urged for issue of early orders. The issue of early payment of Rs. 1,500 crore from USOF was also pointed out for which the  Addl. Secretary assured early action and stated that only the Gazette Notification is further required in the matter.

Meeting with Member (Services) and Member (Finance)

The AIBDPA leaders met Shri S.C.Misra, Member (Services) and Smt. Sadhana Dixit, Member (Finance) and urged for necessary action for issue of necessary orders on the payment of 78.2% IDA fixation  for the pre-2007 pensioners. Copy of the letter addressed to Secretary, DOT in the matter was handed over.

Meeting with Director, Finance (BSNL)

Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri and K.G.Jayaraj met Sri KGCK Pillai, Director (Finance), BSNL and discussed about the implementation of the orders on the payment of 78.2% IDA pay fixation. Shri R.K.Goyal, GM (Estt.) was also present. The union leaders requested that the method of fixation and connected matters be clearly directed so that there will be no confusion at the field level. Director(F) assured that this will be done.

Meeting with CMD BSNL

Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri and K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary AIBDPA met Shri R.K.Upadhyay, CMD BSNL and discussed about the restoration of the services in the flood and landslide ravaged Uttarakhand and HP and offered maximum support from the workers and pensioners. CMD stated that most of the towers and other infrastructure have been restored, but again due to the heavy rain, cables have been destroyed. They are also being restored. He appealed for maximum donations from the staff.

The Association leaders requested for extension of provision of concessional Broad band connections to the DOT retirees. He assured that the issue will be positively considered.

HEAVY AND TORRENTIAL RAIN AND THE RESULTANT FLOODS
HAVE PUT UTTARAKHAND TO UNTOLD MISERIES.NOT ONLY
THE PEOPLE OF UTTARAKHAND BUT THOUSANDS OF PILGRIMS
FROM VARIOUS STATES ARE ALSO AFFECTED.
ACCORDING TO AVAILABLE FIGURES,OVER 550 ARE DEAD,
70000 MISSING AND 35000 STRANDED.THE REAL CASUALITIES
MAY BE MORE CONSIDERING THE SLOW PACE OF RELIEF
OPERATIONS.RELIEF ACTIVITIES ONLY BY THE GOVERNMENT
ARE NOT SUFFICIENT TO MEET THE GRIM SITUATION. SO IT IS
THE BOUNDEN DUTY OF EVERY CITIZEN TO HELP TO THEIR
POTENTIAL IN THIS HOUR OF DISTRESS.
AIBDPA BELIEVE THAT BEING THE SENIOR CITIZENS WE HAVE AN
ADDED RESPOSIBILITY TO RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS
NOBLE CAUSE.
WE APPEAL TO ALL TO DONATE LIBERALLY,NOT LESS THAN
RS.100 TO THE UTTARAKHAND RELIEF FUND.
PAYMENTS MAY BE RUSHED THROUGH OUR SBI SB A/C NO.
31211446886. FOR EARLY REMITTENCE TO THE PRIME MINISTERS
RELIEF FUND OR ANY SPECIAL RELIEF FUND THAT MAY BE
CONSTITUTED FOT THIS PURPOSE.

The department of teecom has criticised TRAI”s move to lower
roaming tariffs and said that regulator has followed the one
Nation,one roaming principle outlined by Kapil Sibal in the
National Telecom Policy 2012 only in letter and not in spirit.
TRAI had lowered roaming charges by 30% on 17th June but
had categorically said that free roaming was simply not practical.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had planned to introduce free
roaming by March,2013 lbut then pushed tthe deadline to
October after mobile phone companies opposed the move.

Rupee plunged to a record all time low of Rs.59.98 to the dollar
on 20th June.
The slide of the rupee has caused foriegn investors to offload shares
upto Rs.2094 crore and the stock market suffered the biggest single
day loss in 21 months.
The rupee,s slide will take a toll on capital intensive sectors,firms with
Foriegn borrowings and those dependent on imports.
Last week the oil companies had hiked the petrol price by Rs.2 a litre
due to the depreciation of rupee which has caused price rise of all the
Essential commodities.