Central Executive Committee Meeting was held online on 05-09-2023 under the presidenship of Com.M R Das, President. The meeting observed one minute silence paying homages to the martyrs and condolences to those passed away during the intervening period. Com.K G Jayaraj, General Secretary welcomed all the participants and presented the agenda items to be discussed in the meeting.

Com.V A N Namboodiri, Advisor inaugurated the CEC and gave a brief account of the developments taken place in the recent past. He severely criticised the attempts of the government sponsored or supported attacks to discriminate and even eliminate a section of the people in various parts of the country, particularly in Manipur , in the name of caste and religion .In all the human development indexes, India stands behind some of the underdeveloped countries. He congratulated all for successfully organising the agitational programmes of NCCPA on the 15 point charter of demands and Joint Forum of BSNL MTNL Pensioners Associations on pension revision.

The participation of Com.A K Bhattacharjee, veteran beloved leader and Patron despite his poor health condition, inspired one and all . Unfortunately, he could not speak due to technical snag.

Then, General Secretary gave a brief report on the important issues taken place after our Mysuru AIC in December, 2022. Formation of Joint Forum of BSNL MTNL Pensioners Associations which consists 8 organisations, 4 each from BSNL and MTNL, and demanding pension revision on 3rd PRC with 15% fitment from 01-01-2017, delinking wage revision. The decision of the Joint Forum to launch a three phased agiattional programme on pension revision was welcomed by the pensioners with great enthusiasm which resulted in unprecedented participation. The Dharna on 31-07-2023 was held even at Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Though the curtailment of 5 days Delhi Dharna to two days caused confusion and difficulties for cancellation of earlier booked tickets and get further reservation, the participation was good. The refusal of Delhi Police to grant permission for two days and granting permission for only 24th August,2023 for holding the dharna at Jantar Mantar was suitably resented and defeated. The determination and commitment to hold powerful demonstration before the Sanchar Bhawan despite prohibitory orders and resisting the police intervention, compelled the police to allow to hold Dharna at Jantar Mantar on 25th August also. It gave shock waves to the government and bureaucracy.

AIBDPA share of participation in the NCCPA agitational programmes , mainly, the Mass Dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 21-07-2021, was significant in the success of the program.

The importance of the ensuing 2nd Asia Regional Conference of TUI(P&R) on 1st October, 2023 and the All India Conference of NCCPA at Chennai on 13-14 December, 2023 was also reported by the General Secretary. The financial position after the Mysuru AIC was presented by Com.M G S Kurup, Treasurer.

The CEC took the following decisions

1. To continue the agitation on pension revision. CEC authorised CHQ to take appropriate decision in consultation with the Joint Forum .
2. CEC selected the following 10 delegates to represent AIBDPA in the 2nd Asia Regional Conference at Thiruvanathapuram on 01-10-2023. (1) Com. Asis Das, Circle Secretary, West Bengal (2) Com.K R Yadav, Circle Secretary, UP(E) (3) Com.M I Jakati, Circle Secretary, Maharashtra. (4) Com.Ramachandradu , Circle Secretary, Telangana (5) Com.R Rajasekar, Circle Secretary, Tamil Nadu (6) Com.Muddiah, Circle Secretary, Karnataka (7) Com.N Guruprasad (Circle Secretary, Kerala (8) Com.H S Thakur, Circle Secretary, Madhya Pradesh (9) Com.N K Shrivastava, Circle Secretary (Bihar) (10) Com.S C Bhattacharjee, AGS (Chhattisgarh). Besides, Com.V A N Namboodiri, Advisor will participate on behalf of NCCPA and Coms. K G Jayaraj, General Secretary and Swastika Dasgupta being part of TUI(P&R) are ex-officio delegates.
3. 34 delegates are allotted to AIBDPA for the NCCPA AIC at Chennai on 13-14 December, 2023 and the CEC allocated it as follows; Kerala-04, Tamil Nadu-04, Chennai Telephones-02, West Benagal-02, Kolkata Telephones-02. Karnataka-02, Maharashtra-02, Gujarat-02, Andhra Pradesh -02, Telangana -02, Bihar-01, UP(E)-01, UP(W)-01, Haryana-01, Punjab-01, Rajasthan -01, NTR Delhi-01, Assam-01, Odisha -01, Chhattisgarh -01. Apart from these, Coms.V A N Namboodiri (Patron), K G Jayaraj (Dy Secretary General), S Mohandoss (Assistant Secretary General), H S Thakur (Organising Secretary) and S S Maurya (Organising Secretary) are ex-officio delegates.
4. The offer of Com.M I Jakati, Circle Secretary, Maharashtra to host the CEC meeting in November, 2023 was accepted by the CEC meeting. The venue and dates of the meeting will be decided shortly.
5. All the circles should ensure timely payment of quota to both CHQ and Circle by the district branches. Life subscribers of Telepensioner be enrolled .

42 comrades attended the CEC meeting and 21 comrades participated in the discussion. Com. R. Muraleedharan Nair, AGS could not attend due to illness. UP(E), Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu& Kashmir circles did not participate.

The biennial Circle Conference of NTR Delhi has been held at the BSNLEU office, Eastern Court, New Delhi on 26-08-2023. Com. R C Malhotra, Circle President presided. Com. D P S Shishodia, Circle Secretary welcomed one and all and presented the report and accounts.

Com. K G Jayaraj, General Secretary inaugurated the Conference explaining the important issues like pension revision and the just concluded agitational programme of Joint Forum of BSNL MTNL Pensioners Associations, medical benefits, CGHS, Asia Regional Conference of TUI (P&R), NCCPA AIC etc. Coms. K R Yadav, Circle Secretary, UP (E), M G S Kurup, CHQ Treasurer, also addressed.

A new set of office bearers with Com. R S Chouhan (Patron) Com. R C. Malhotra ( President), D P S Shishodia (Circle Secretary) Com. V P. Gupta ( Treasurer) were elected unanimously

In view of the denial of permission to continue the Dharna on 25th August 2023 at Jantar Mantar, the Joint Forum of BSNL MTNL Pensioners Associations had planned to hold Protest Demonstration before the Sanchar Bhawan at 1130AM on 25th inst. Plenty of Police were deployed to prevent the demonstration and some of our comrades from Tamil Nadu, Chennai Telephones, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan etc were removed in the police vehicle to Jantar Mantar. The leaders reached at the spot at 1130AM and had a tough time dealing the police. But unmindful of the consequences, they started shouting slogans loudly and spiritedly and all other comrades who were in the near vicinity rushed and joined together and staged a powerful demonstration for 15 minutes resisting the police to remove them to the police vehicle. Then the police informed that Joint Forum can continue the Dharna at Jantar Mantar. Thereafter, hundreds of pensioners moved to Jantar Mantar in a procession and held the Dharna.

Coms. V A N Namboodiri, K G Jayaraj, G L Jogi, H F Chaudhari, M K Mudgal, M R Das and D D Mistri addressed the Dharna participated by hundreds of comrades who came from almost all parts of the country with great commitment and determination to fight for the genuine cause. All the speakers delivered spirited and encouraging speeches exposing the lethargic attitude of the government and affirmed to continue the struggle until the pension revision is achieved.

Then the police took the leaders in their vehicle to Sanchar Bhawan and the Joint Secretary received the memorandum.

.The third phase of the agitational programme of Joint Forum of BSNL MTNL Pensioners Associations, against the apathy of the government and bureaucracy in the most burning issue of pension revision was the 5 days Dharna from 21 – 25 August 2023. But the Delhi Police gave permission for only one day on 24th August, 2023, that also from 10am to 1pm.

The pensioners that came from all parts of the country exhibited their anger and anguish against the unjustifiable stalemate on the issue of pension revision after completing almost all the formalities. They raised slogans against the continuing injustice on their legitimate demand and affirmed the determination and commitment to fight it out until achieved.

Veteran leader and Advisor of AIBDPA, Com. V A N Namboodiri presided. Com. K G Jayaraj, General Secretary, AIBDPA and Convener, Joint Forum welcomed all and explained the demand. Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary, AIRF, Secretary, N JCM (Staff Side) and President, NCCPA inaugurated the Dharna. He came down heavily on the anti worker, anti pensioner policies of the government and assured all the support in achieving the genuine demand of pension revision of BSNL and MTNL absorbed retirees. Coms. Thomas John & D D Mistry, BDPA(I), G L Jogi, GS, SNPWA, H F Chaudhari, GS, AICGPA HQ Pune, V K Thomar, Secretary General NCOA and Chairman, Joint Forum of MTNL Associations and Unions , R K Mudgal, General Secretary, MREWA spoke criticising the negative stand of the government.More than 1000 pensioners participated.

CHQ heartily congratulate all the comrades for their valuable participation in the most important struggle.

*Com. K G Jayaraj, General Secretary and Com. M G S Kurup, Treasurer had a detailed meeting with Smt. Anuradha Joshi Durgapal, Controller General of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications on 22nd August, 2023.The representatives brought to her notice the letters already sent to her on the issues being faced by the pensioners. Still for ready reference, copies of the letters were also given.

Provision of a simple App, Know Your LC status.

The suggestion of AIBDPA to minimise the number of defaulters of life certificate was discussed in detail. CGCA stated that the Department while checking the personal details, it is found that the important information like PAN, Mobile number etc are missing in the records, particularly that of super seniors and wanted AIBDPA to extend maximum cooperation to collect these. The delegation readily agreed and told that AIBDPA branches are already doing it. CGCA doubted that many of the seniors are not using smart phones and how far the App may benifit these section. The representatives replied that if the App is simple, as suggested, they could utilise it if not independently but with some help. CGCA further stated that the number of defaulters of LC is monitored on a daily basis and the number is far less nowadays

Lack of provisions in the SAMPANN module.

The representatives pointed out the hardships of the pensioners for which reasons attributed are lack of provision in the SAMPANN module. CGCA replied that though it is not fully correct, the issue is being examined and SAMPANN module is expected to be made foolproof by December, 2023. She also asked for certain specific cases which were furnished then and there.

Delay in the payment of first family pension.

CGCA stated that the Department wanted speedy payment and assured to examine the issue.

Distribution of ID cards.

CGCA asked the delegation about the camps organised by CCAs for distribution of Pensioner ID Card. The delegation replied that in some circles camps are held and good progress also achieved in the distribution. But in certain circles like Kerala, though the details were collected before one year, the distribution of ID cards is yet to start. CGCA immediately called CCA, Kerala and urged early action.

Finally, the delegation drew her attention on the issue of ST VRS retirees of Maharashtra, drawing provisional pension indefinitely and certain cases of regular pension converted to provional pension in violation of CCS(Pension) Rules. In the last meeting CGCA had assured that report will be sought from the CCA Maharashtra. CGCA stated that the report is received from the CCA, Maharashtra which is in contrast to the report furnished in the letter of AIBDPA. Furthermore, CGCA stated that in certain cases the Vigilance Clearances are withdrawn by the BSNL and CCA had to take action based on it. She also said that the issue is very complex and the CMD, BSNL was also contacted in this regard. The delegation brought to her attention that the organisation which filed the court case against the ST VRS retirees for availing undue benefits by submitting fake caste certificate, have since been withdrawn. They also reiterated the stand that the orders of DOP&PW, DoT and BSNL Corporate office are floated by the Maharashtra CGMT by denying the retirement benefits.

The meeting started at 2.30pm was concluded at 4.10pm.

THE LAST PHASE OF THE THREE PHASED AGITATIONAL PROGRAMME OF JOINT FORUM OF BSNL MTNL PENSIONERS ASSOCIATIONS IS THE TWO DAYS DHARNA AT JANTAR MANTAR, NEW DELHI ON 24-25, AUGUST, 2023.

IT IS A DO OR DIE BATTLE FOR OUR ONLY ONE AND LEGITIMATE DEMAND OF PENSION REVISION WITH 15% FITMENT AS PER 3RD PRC FROM 01-01-2017, DELINKING WAGE REVISION.

PARTICIPATE MASSIVELY AND LET US SHOW THE GOVERNMENT AND THE BUREAUCRACY OUR COMMITMENT AND DETERMINATION TO FIGHT UNTIL THE UNREFUTABLE DEMAND IS ACHIEVED.

THE DHARNA IS PERMITTED FROM 10AM TO 1PM. SO PLEASE JOIN IN TIME.

COMRADES, WE SHALL FIGHT AND MARCH FORWARD.

VICTORY SHALL BE OURS.