Yesterday, 4th May 2013, I have been to Kolkata to attend the 24th National Conference of Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers which is being held from 4th to 6th May. I reached the Conference site near Phool Bagan along with Coms. Saibal Sen Gupta, Circle Secretary, BSNLEU Kolkata Telephones, Om Prakash, Circle Secretary, TF and Biplab Das, Convener Co-ordination Committee. The procession participated by the all India delegates and the workers from Kolkata has just reached the site. The homage to the martyrs were going on. We also paid floral homages at the martyrs column.

The Conference Hall was named after Com. Moni Bose, veteran leader of P and T employees and Ajoy Bhowmik, leader of central govt. employees. The hall was full and overflowing. The leaders of all the central govt. organisations were. I could meet Coms.S.K.Vyas, KKN Kutty, M.Krishnan, R.L.Bhattacharjee, S.S.Ray, Ananta Bhattacharjee, Pabitra Chakraborty, Jyotsna Bose, MS Raja, Rajagopalan, Giri Raj Singh, Sobhana, , Mihir Das Gupta and many other leaders of the Central government employees movement. Though I could not speak with all the leaders since the Open Session started quickly, it was sufficient that we could meet and greet each other. BSNL leaders, including the circle secretaries, were also present in good numbers.

Com. A.K.Padmanabhan, National President, CITU inaugurated the Open session and called upon the central government employees for jointly fight against the anti-worker neo-liberal policies of the government. He also congratulated the employees for their good participation in the 48 hours strike on 20-21 February and the CGE strike in 12-12-2012. I spoke next and greeted the Conference. As I had to attend another meeting, I could not sit there till the end.

BSNL employees were part of the great CGE movement and the Confederation. After BSNL was formed, naturally the BSNL workers became part of the Public Sector employees movement. But still the bond and closeness continued. In many conferences of the Confederation, I could participate on invitation. It is a happy opportunity to meet the comrades with whom we had decades of close affinity and the experiences of struggles.

I wish the Conference of confederation every success!