General Secretary and Com.M I Jakati Circle Secretary, Maharashtra met Shri.Y N Singh, GM( Taxation & BFCI) , BSNL Corporate Office on 06-04-2023 and discussed the issue of delay in the payment of medical benefits to various Circles like Maharashtra, Telangana etc. The GM immediately called the concerned officer to his cabin in our presence and asked the position. The officer stated that whatever bills are cleared and entered by the circles have been cleared and paid fully and nothing is pending.

MEETING WITH GM( ADM).

General Secretary and Com M I Jakati Circle Secretary, Maharashtra also met Shri. S P Singh GM ( Adm) BSNL Corporate Office on 06-04-2023 and discussed the following issues

1. Yearly Option for without voucher, medical allowance.

General Secretary handed over the CHQ letter regarding some confusion/ misinterpretation in some Circles/ SSA/ BAs on yearly Option for those who want to continue with without voucher medical allowance. General Secretary brought to his notice that the order of Corporate Office dated 08-06-2020 is being misinterpreted in certain circles and yearly option insisted. GM stated that the order is very clear and those retirees already given option for 2020-21 need not give fresh option every year. However considering our request,GM agreed to issue necessary clarification

.2. Yearly revalidation of BSNL MRS Card.

The representatives pointed out the difficulties being experienced by the retirees for revalidation of BSNL MRS card every year and requested to limit the revalidation only when there are change in the case of dependents/ Pensioner etc. It is also a fact that no space is provided in the Card to make the entry of renewal every year and in many SSA/ BAs it is not being done.

GM replied that BSNL MRS Card has to be renewed as per rules and can’t be dispensed with. They don’t bother if it is not done in some SSA/ BAs

.3. Opportunity to the Family Pensioners to change the Option as a one time measure.

The representatives requested the BSNL management to consider the issue sympathetically . There are ample justification for giving the Family Pensioners one opportunity to change the medical option. The main factor is that BSNL employees were not having without voucher medical allowance since 2011 and were having no option at all other than with voucher medical benefits. GM stated that he can’t agree to any proposal that may incur additional expenditure to BSNL in the present financial situation of BSNL.

CHQ had sought an appointment with the CMD BSNL on 6th April,2023 to discuss the serious issue of Non-Payment of regular pension and retirement benefits to ST VRS retirees of Maharashtra despite clear cut orders from all the relevant authorities. The appointment was sought so as to facilitate our Maharashtra Circle delegation led by Com.M I Jakati Circle Secretary, who are at New Delhi for a short visit, also to participate in the discussion.But CMD, due to some urgent meeting, advised us to meet the Director (HR). Director (HR) also happened to be in a meeting. Finally, the delegation met Shri. Saurabh Tyagi PGM (Estt) and had a detailed discussion.

General Secretary and Circle Secretary brought to the notice of the PGM, the continuing cruelty and harrassment of BSNL, Maharashtra Circle administration against the ST VRS retirees denying their due benefits despite clear cut orders and pointwise clarification issued by the Corporate Office. The representatives also pointed out certain specific cases wherin conversion of regular pension again to provisional pension and denial of leave encashment to Shri.Borkar Ramesh Bhau, Kalyan.

PGM listened to the delegation patiently and assured necessary action and asked the delegation to provide him the complete list of the affected pensioners with present status of each case. Com. M I . Jakati, Circle Secretary readily agreed to provide the list through the General Secretary after returning to Maharashtra. It was also decided to take up the issue of illegal actions of conversion of regular pension to provisional pension by CCA, Maharashtra with the Controller General of Communication Accounts.

The Mazdoor Kisan Sangarsh Rally organised by the All India Kisan Sabha, CITU, All India Agricultural Workers Union and joined by several other organisations including Central Government, State Government and PSU held on 5th April, 2023. has been made mammoth and historic.Lakhs of workers thronged to the large Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi since early morning and by 11AM it became a Red Ocean of workers. They all came with flags and banners from all parts of the country making the Rally colourful and beautiful.There were a large number of women comrades also. They raised slogans in support of the 14 point charter of demands and condemning the anti -worker, anti- people and divisive policies of Modi government.

Com K Hemalatha, President,CITU, Ashok Dhawle, President, AIKS and A Vijayaraghavan, President, AIAWU were in the presidium. A galaxy of leaders, including Coms. Tapan Sen , General Secretary,CITU, Viju Krishnan, General Secretary, AIKS, B Venkat, General Secretary, AIAWU P Abhimanyu, General Secretary, BSNLEU, R N Parashar, Secretary General Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers addressed.

As per the decision of the Coordination Committee of BSNLEU, AIBDPA & BSNLCCWF,, AIBDPA also participated. According to initial reports, about 500 comrades from various circles,have participated and CHQ heartily congratulate all of them. It is encouraging to note that in certain places like Coimbatore, Alappuzha etc solidarity demonstration were held on 05-04-2023.

*Com. K G Jayaraj General Secretary had a successful meeting with Shri.Dhlip Padhye, Controller General of Communication Accounts on 03rd April,2023 at his office at UIDAI Building, Gole Market, New Delhi.Actually General Secretary had gone to his office on 31-03-2023 but he was not available. So the three letters already sent on email were handed over to his PS. Today, General Secretary spoke to CGCA over the telephone and sought an appointment. He was kind enough to fix the meeting at 4PM on today itself.

The difficulties being experienced by the pensioners were brought to his notice during the discussion. Mainly delay in the commencement of family pension, different guidelines for submission of application by the CCAs, non- updation of life certificate and resultant non-drawal of pension etc were the issues.The CGCA was in a very relaxed mood and listened to the General Secretary very patiently. He assured early necessary action in all the issues.

General Secretary specifically requested to issue a uniform guidelines for submission of application for family pension so as to simplify the proceedure and early commencement of family pension. CGCA agreed to examine it.Our suggestion on submission of life certificate by SAMPANN Pensioners on group wise and in different months was welcomed by the CGCA and assured to look into it.

CGCA also shared the information that migration of pensioners drawing pension from Post Offices to SAMPANN has started and expected to be completed within six months.

NATIONAL PENSION ADALAT.

General Secretary then drew his attention to the National Pension Adalat held hurriedly on 29-03-2023 without giving sufficient time for sending the grievances. The negative stand of the CCA , Tamil Nadu in disallowing Pensioners Associations to present the issues of pensioners in the Adalat was also brought to his notice. CGCA replied that he has already sought report on the National Pension Adalat and assured that corrective steps will be taken. The meeting lasted for 45 minutes.

Com.K G Jayaraj General Secretary has met Shri. Uma Shankar Pandey, Member (Services) at Sanchar Bhawan on 3rd April,2023 and discussed the issue of reinstatement of Shri. J H Agashe Ex Telecom Mechanic, Gondia Bhandara, Maharashtra. Shri.J H Agashe was dismissed from service after he was convicted by the Additional Sessions Court, Gondia in the CBI case of alleged accepatance of Rs.200 from an applicant of new telephone connection . However, the Nagpur Bench of the Mumbai High Court has set aside the conviction and he was acquitted of the offences on 06.03.2020.Though the dismissed official represented repeatedly for reinstatement, there was no response

. The issue was brought to the notice of CHQ by District Branch, Bhandara recently.So a detailed letter was written with all the relevant documents and handed over to the Member ( Services) and he had a patient hearing. He also assured early necessary action.General Secretary discussed the issue with Smt. Roshni Sohni , DDG( Estt)also by handing over the copy of the letter. She stated that preliminary action is to be taken by the DDG ( Pers) and adviced to meet him also. Accordingly, General Secretary tried to meet Shri. Sunil Purohit,DDG( Pers) but he was not available. So the copy of the letter was given to his PS who assured to bring it to the notice of DDG( Pers).

As already been intimated the Coordination Committee of BSNLEU AIBDPA and BSNLCCWF has decided to participate in the Mazdoor Kisan Sangarsh Rally being organised at New Delhi on 5th April,2023. In this connection, the CoC has completed the four phased campaign programmes successfully.

Now, we have to make the Mazdoor Kisan Sangarsh Rally historic by participating in large numbers. AIBDPA is mobilising pensioners mainly from the Delhi and nearby circles. Still reports are received that our comrades from West Bengal, Kolkata Telephones, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chennai Telephones etc are also participating. So the Circle Secretaries of these circles are requested to make all out efforts for maximum participation and arrange the participants to reach Ramlila Maidan , near Chawri Bazar Metro station, New Delhi at 10AM. Please bring the banners and maximum flags.

The second biennial district conference of Meerut was held on 31-03-2023. Com.Ansar Ali, Asst. Circle Secretary presided over the meeting and explained the issues of the pensioners, Mazddor- Kisan Sangarsg Rally at New Delhi and the need to make it successful. Com. Ashwin Kumar, Com. Upender Singh Tiotia, District Secretary, Ghaziabad also addressed the conference. Coms. Sathishkumar Sharma, Ram Swaroop and Sri Chand were elected President, District Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.