AIBDPA writes to Prime Minister on Freezing of DA to CG Employees and DR to CG Pensioners at current rates till July, 2021.

25 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by in AIBDPA - BSNL DOT Pensioners, CG Employees, NCCPA

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AIBDPA/DA-PM/2020 April 25th, 2020

To,

Shri Narendra Modi Ji

Hon’ble Prime Minister,

Government of India

South Block, Raisina Hill

New Delhi – 110 001

Respected Sir,

Sub: – Freezing of Dearness Allowance to Central Government Employees and Dearness Relief to Central Government Pensioners at current rates till July, 2021 – reg.

Please refer to the O.M. No. 1/1/2020-EII (B) dated 23rd April, 2020 issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance in view of the crisis arising out of the pandemic Covid -19, ordering that the Dearness Relief to Central Government Pensioners will be frozen at the current rates till July, 2021.

In this connection, we on behalf of the All India BSNL – DOT Pensioners Association submit the following for your kind consideration and early necessary action.

Immediately on your appeal for donation to combat the spread of the pandemic Covid-19, the BSNL – DOT pensioners of more than two lakhs had voluntarily contributed to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund or the respective Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the best of their ability. About Rs. Fifty lakh have been donated by pensioners belonging to our association, through the association or directly, to these relief funds, including about Rs. Twenty lakhs to Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund alone. Pensioners, as you are aware, are senior Citizens mostly inflicted with several diseases and physical debilities and are presently directed by the authorities to be confined to their homes. They are prohibited to go out and are depended upon others for their daily needs. Pension being only 50% of the last drawn salary or even less, they are seldom able to make both ends meet. The condition of the family pensioners are worse.

The above cited order of the Government of India has been a bolt from the blue for many pensioners. Since they are depended upon others for all their needs, the procurement of medicines, visiting hospitals, collecting groceries etc, they have to spend more. The expenditure has become more than what it was a few months back. In fact, presently they are in dire need of extra allowances to pull on. They, along with the millions of people all over the world, want the pandemic to end and therefore, support every decision of the Government especially the restrictions imposed on their movement and donation to PM CARES Fund etc.

The decision of the Government to freeze the Dearness Relief which had become due on 1st January, 2020 is unprecedented. We earnestly feel that the country’s economy has not reached such a situation that the Government needs to curtail the meagre pension of the old people. Never in the history of the country, even when it’s very existence was threatened by external aggression or during the worst financial crisis of 1990s, had the Government resorted to confiscate the pension income of senior citizens. No doubt, our country like many other Nations of the world is fighting to wipe out the pandemic, and the Lock Down has halted all economic activities. We feel that our country’s economy is comparatively robust and is capable of facing the challenges without resort to pauperizing the pensioners. While benefit packages are extended to considerably well to-do segments in the society, the denial of the due entitlements to the pensioners is extremely painful.

From the order it is seen that the Government has not only decided to freeze the DR entitlements but would also not release the arrears even after the normalcy in the economic activities is restored.

It would, therefore, be appropriate that the pensioners are excluded from the purview of the O.M.cited above. The decision to impound the arrears of Dearness Relief till July,2021 is extremely harsh on low income pensioners and family pensioners. Impounding the Dearness Relief, in our opinion, is not legally tenable without the consent of the concerned pensioner. The Finance Ministry is well aware of the rule that the entitled pension cannot be curtailed. Whoever has advised the Government that the Dearness Relief on pension should not be construed as pension is wrong and their interpretation is not at all tenable.

The Prime Minister himself has several times mentioned about the vulnerability of the senior citizens and the need to protect them and help them by the society, which has been completely ignored by the Finance ministry, while issuing the order.

We, therefore, appeal to your kind self that, for the reasons stated by us in the preceding paragraphs, the order issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure cited, may be directed to be withdrawn forthwith.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

K G Jayaraj

General Secretary.

(from AIBDPA website)

BSNLEU issues press statement against the freezing of DA of Central government employees and pensioners

24 Friday Apr 2020

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BSNLEU has issued the following press statement today, against the freezing of the DA of the Central Government employees and pensioners, for the period from 01.01.2020 to 01.07.2020. BSNLEU has stated categorically in the press statement that, when the government can make available lakhs of crores of rupees to pamper the big corporates of the country, there is absolutely no justification to freeze the DA of the Central Government employees and pensioners. BSNLEU has demanded the government to immediately withdraw it’s decision to freeze the DA.(BSNLEU Website)

Confederation letter to Cabinet Secretary protesting DA / DR freeze

24 Friday Apr 2020

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To
The Cabinet Secretary,
Government of India,
Cabinet Secretariat
Rashtrapati Bhawan,
New Delhi

Sub: Freezing of dearness allowance to Central Government employees and
Dearness relief to Central Government pensioners at current rates till
July, 2021.

Dear Sir,

We solicit your kind reference to the O.M. No. 1/12020-E.I (B) dated 23rd April, 2020issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance on the above subject in view of the crisis arising out of the pandemic Covid-19.

The Central Government employees throughout the country noted the contents of the above cited O.M. with surprise and anguish. As you are aware, the Central Government employees responded admirably the call of the Honourable Prime Minister to donate one day’s salary to the Prime Minister’s Relief fund to enable the Government to meet out the financial exigencies arising out of the pandemic. This apart, both the employees and pensioners have contributed immensely to the Prime Minister’s and respective Chief Minister’s public relief funds voluntarily.

It was unfortunate that the Government did not cause any consultation with the standing committee of the JCM, the negotiating forum of the Central Government employees and took an arbitrary and unilateral decision on a vital matter like freezing the wages.

The Government are aware that quite a number of employees are deployed and consequently are involved in various governmental activities and services meant to combat the spread of the pandemic Covid-19 especially of those departments declared as emergency services viz, health, postal, defence, railways etc. endangering even their life. Not taking into confidence the employees’ representatives before taking decision to impose a mandatory freeze of dearness allowance is in utter disregard to the norms and procedure followed by the previous Governments when such situation had arisen. Besides at no previous occasion, the Government of India had resorted to impounding the dues arbitrarily. We, therefore, oppose the arbitrary decision of the Government to impound the DA .

Further, we are to inform you that the decision to deny the payment of the freezed amount even after overcoming the crisis is totally unacceptable to the employees. We are pained to note that the Government has been shifting the financial burden of the crisis on to the employees and workers, when in fact they require the financial assistance from the Government to face the crisis caused by the pandemic.

In the circumstance, we request you to direct the Ministry of Finance to rescind the decision to impound the DA and withdraw the O.M., as the Government has no legal or moral authority to take such a decision. The refusal to accede to this demand will only pave the way for an avoidable confrontation and agitation.

Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,

(R N Parashar)
Secretary General
Copy to:
The Secretary, Personnel,
Department of personnel and Training,
Government of India,
North Block, New Delhi. 110 001

NCCPA letter to Prime Minister demanding withdrawal of freezing of DA / DR arbitrarily issued by government

24 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by in AIBDPA - BSNL DOT Pensioners, General, NCCPA

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National Coordination Committee of Pensioners Association
13C, FEroze Shah Road, New Delhi 110001

Shiv Gopal Mishra K.K.N.Kutty
President Secretary General

To
The Honourable Prime Minister,
Government of India,
South Block,
New Delhi. 110 001

Dear Sir,

Sub: Freezing of dearness allowance to Central Government Employees and dearness relief to Central Government Pensioners at current rates till July, 2021.

Please refer to the O.M. No. 1/1/2020-EII (B) dated 23rd April, 2020 issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance in view of the crisis arising out of the pandemic Covid -19. ordering that the dearness relief to Central Government Pensioners will be freezed at the current rates till July, 2021. In this connection, we on behalf of the Central Government pensioners submit the following for your kind consideration.

The Central Government pensioners, immediately after your appeal for donation to combat the spread of the pandemic Covid-19 had voluntarily contributed to the Prime Minister Relief Fund or the respective Chief Minister’s Relief fund to the best of their capacity. Pensioners, as you are aware Sir, being senior Citizens are mostly inflicted with several diseases and physical debilities and are presently directed by the authorities to be confined to their homes. They are prohibited to go out and are depended upon others for their dire needs. Pension being 50% of the last drawn salary or even less, they are seldom able to make the both ends meet.

The above cited order of the Government of India has been a bolt from the blue for many pensioners. Since they are depended upon others for every of their needs, the procurement of medicines, visiting hospitals, collecting groceries et all, have become costlier than what it was a few months back. In fact presently they are in dire need of extra allowances to pull on. They along with the millions of people all over the world wanted the pandemic to end and therefore, support every decision of the Government especially the restrictions imposed on their movement.

The decision of the Government to freeze the Dearness allowance which had become due on 1st January, 2020 is an unprecedented one. We earnestly feel that the country’s economy has not reached such a situation that the Government needs to curtail the meager pension income of the old people. Never in the political history of the country, even when its very existence was threatened by external aggression or during the worst financial crisis of 1990s the Government has resorted to confiscate the pension income of senior citizens. No doubt our country like many other Nations of the world is fighting to wipe out the pandemic and the lock down has halted all economic activities. We are certain that you will be able to note that no other country has decided to confiscate the income of pensioners. We feel that our country’s economy is robust and is capable of facing the challenges without resort to pauperizing the pensioners. While benefit packages are extended to considerably well to-do segments in the society, the denial of the due entitlements to the pensioners is extremely painful.

From the order it is seen that the Government has not only decided to freeze the DR entitlements but would not also release the arrears even after the normalcy in the economic activities is brought about. We can only characterize it as the unkindest cut. We also would like to point out that an appeal from your good-self for donation would have elicited greater response and the pensioners who are comparatively well off would have responded admirably and the Government might have collected more than what it would receive by the operation of the above cited order. That would have helped immensely the comparatively low income pensioners, especially the family pensioners.

It would, therefore, be appropriate that the pensioners are excluded from the purview of the O.M.cited . The decision to impound the arrears of Dearness relief in July,2021 is extremely harsh on low income pensioners and family pensioners especially. Impounding the Dearness relief, in our opinion is not legally tenable without the consent of the concerned pensioner. The Finance Ministry is well aware of the rule that the entitled pension cannot be curtailed. Whoever has advised the Government that the Dearness Relief on pension should not be construed as pension are wrong and their interpretation is not at all tenable.

We, therefore, appeal to you that for the reasons stated by us in the preceding paragraphs, the order issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure cited, may be directed to be withdrawn forthwith.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
K.K.N.Kutty
Secretary General.

NCCPA opposes DA / DR impounding by Central Govt.

24 Friday Apr 2020

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DA/DR Impounding by the Central Government

The Government of India has issued an unilateral order on 23.04.2020 vide No.1/1/2020-E.II(B) of Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure to freeze the DA/DR of CG Employees and Pensioners up to 30.06.2021 and that not to pay any arrears even after the lifting of the freezing with effect from 1.7.2021. The authoritative and unilateral action of the Government has received widespread condemnation from different organizations of Central Government Employees and Pensioners.

NCCPA as the apex organization of various Pensioners Associations at National level and CGPA affiliates at State level expressed its strong condemnation to the Government over this unilateral impounding of DA/DR. The Government have not taken the facts that even before the said impounding, the NCCPA and its affiliates have been donating to the cause of fighting corona to either the PMNRF or State Chief Ministers’ Relief Funds. In addition there had been a wage cut on the CG Employees and the Pensioners also were requested to offer willingness to recover from Pension towards the relief. The unilateral action of impounding of three installments due from 1.1.2020; 1.7.2020; and 1.1.2021 without any arrears on restoration will be acting very severely on the Pensioners whose livelihood is based on Pension and periodical Dearness Relief to offset the cost of living rise. Recovery of pension from 4% to around 12% Pension for a period of 18 months will be excessively harsh on the senior citizens.

NCCPA has therefore written to the Prime Minister to intervene to cause to rescind the orders of the Finance Minister dated 23.04.2020. The copy of letter addressed to the Honourable Prime Minister is enclosed for the information of our affiliates. Any inaction on the part of the Government will be discussed in our National Executive after the restoration of normalcy and organizational decisions will be taken. All our affiliates are requested to send an identical letter of protest to the Honourable Prime Minister on behalf of their respective organizations.

Sustained Struggles to Save BSNL – 5 Issues settled; Strike on 5th January 2005 deferred.

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in AIBDPA - BSNL DOT Pensioners, BSNL, BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers, BSNLEU

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Issues settled; Strike on 5th January 2005 deferred.

Full preparations went on for the One Day Strike on 5th January 2005. Protest demonstrations, rallies etc were held and workers energized for the strike.
The Joint Forum leaders were meeting at FNTO Office at about 19.30 to finalise last minute preparations for strike. While proceedings were going on, call came from Secretary DOT intimating a meeting at his office to discuss the strike issues immediately. JF was skeptic about meeting with DOT in the last minute and especially when neither Communications Minister nor State Minister was in Delhi. Hence, JF decided that only Convener need to go.
Though it was about 21.00 hours when I reached Sanchar Bhawan, the security directly took me to the Secretary’s room. Shri J.S.Sharma, Secretary, DOT was alone. He asked me what are the important demands for the strike and I explained briefly and gave him a copy of the strike notice. He gave certain assurances, but I wanted it in writing. He called the Additional Secretary, Shri Yashwant Bhave and dictated the following letter and gave me a copy:
The letter was addressed to Shri A.K.Sinha, CMD BSNL. The full letter is given below:
Dear Shri Sinha,
Mr. V.A.N.Namboodiri, General Secretary of the BSNL Employees Union met Secretary (Telecom) today on behalf of the Joint Forum and expressed the following concern to him in connection with the notice of the strike given by the union.
1. Disinvestment in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
2. Unbundling of the local loop.
3. Grant of Navaratna status to BSNL.
4. Views of the union in connection with the proposed Telecom Policy.
The Secretary assured Mr. Namboodiri as under:
a) That there is no proposal regarding disinvestment in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
b) That unbundling of the local loop is not under consideration
c) That all efforts will be made towards obtaining the Navaratna status to BSNL
d) That the views of the union will be duly considered as and when the draft Telecom Policy is formulated.
Yours (sd) Yeshwant Bhave.
Copy to: Shri V.A.N.Namboodiri, General Secretary, BSNL Employees Union.
The JF considered the letter and the strike was deferred as per unanimous decision. It was a great success since the disinvestment and unbundling was stopped. (to be continued)

AIBDPA Kolkata collects Rs. 2,45,000 for Contract Workers Relief Fund. Congratulations!

23 Thursday Apr 2020

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It has been intimated by Com. Sanjib Banerjee, Circle Secretary, AIBDPA, Kolkatta Telephones that an  amount of Rs. 2,45,000 has been collected towards Contract Workers Relief Fund by Kolkata Telephones Circle. Out of this Rs. 1,95,000 is from Kolkata Telephone District Branch.

Hearty Congratulations Kolkata Comrades and Circle Secretary Com. Sanjib Banerjee! ( Courtesy:AIBDPA Website)

Three Central DA frozen for for employees as well as pensioners.

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in CG Employees, General, Pension, Uncategorized

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Government has issued orders freezing eligible DA due from January,July 2020 and January 2021 for Central government employees and pensioners. No arrears will be given afterwards. The order has been issued today, 23rd April 2020.