I have been away to Kolkata to attend the Circle Conference of AIBDPA  Kolkata Circle as also meeting at Telecom Factory and at CTO building (W.Bengal Circle) during the period 25th to 29th April 2017. The conference and meetings were well attended and I addressed them. The latest developments were explained to the employees, pensioners and casual contract workers.

I could utilise the stay in Kolkata during this period to meet some of the veteran senior leaders of the trade union movement. Com. Sisirda, the senior most leader of P&T employees, who is 97 at present, came to the meeting in the Telecom Factory and addressed the workers. Even at this age he is active and we discussed about the latest developments. A copy of the AIBDPA  Tirupati AIC Souvenir with my article on Sisirda was handed over to him.

On 26th evening along with Coms. Saibal Sen Gupta, Circle Secretary BSNLEU and Biplab Das, Secretary Co-ordination Committee, I went and met Com. Sukomal Sen, former Secretary General All India state Government Employees Federation and a former M.P. He was not well and is under treatment at home. He was happy to meet all of us and we discussed his health problems and other issues.

On 28th April, along with Coms. Pabitra Chakraborty and Arindo Rai, Asst. Circle Secretary, BSNLEU Kolkata  Circle, I visited Com. R.L.Bhattacharjee, Patron, NCCPA at his residence which is about 30 miles away from Kolkata. He is almost bedridden and unable to move out. We had about one hour discussion on the various issues of the pensioners etc.

On 29th morning I went to the residence of late Comrade Moni Bose to meet Com. Jyotsna Bose who is  not well. She used to attend all the meetings earlier. I could meet both the families of Coms. K.G.Bose as well as Moni Bose. Com. Babu (s/o KG Bose) and family had visited Kerala last month and he was very happy that all arrangements have been made for his stay etc. by Com.K.Mohanan, CS BSNLEU and other comrades. I had lunch from there and spoke with all the family members.

Com.Ananta Bhattacharjee, President of AIBDPA and a veteran leader was present in the AIBDPA Kolkata Conference and along with Com.K.G.Jayaraj, General secretary, we could discuss some important issues.

During the stay there, I addressed the SNEA comrades, sitting on Hunger strike in Telephone Bhavan as per decision of CHQ demanding settlement of their demands.

This tour to Kolkata was successful,especially in that I could meet the senior leaders. All the circle Secretaries of BSNLEU, Coms. Animesh Mitra (WB), Saibal Sen Gupta (Kolkata), Om Prakash Singh (TF) and Adhir Kumar Sen (TS) along with Com. Biplab Das, Mihir Dasgupta, Swastika Dasgupta, Sandib Banerjee, Pijush Chakraborty, Supriyo Mitra, Arindo Rai, Amitab Chatterjee, senior leaders Comrades Dilip Das, Prabir Dutta, Gouri Haldar – all helped me in duties assigned to me. I could not meet Coms. Tapas Ghosh and Tapos Banerjee, leaders of BSNLCCWF due to their being out of station to attend meetings.

All these comrades are functioning under great strain due to the special situation in W.Bengal. My Congratulations to all of them for their great tradition and committed service to the organisation.

W.