Decisions of NCCPA National Executive Meeting held at Chennai on 05.08.2018

National Coordination Committee of Pensioners Associations

National Executive Committee Meeting.

Chennai – 5.8.2018

Minutes of the meeting.

The National Executive of NCCPA met at Chennai on 5.8.2018 as scheduled. In all 24 comrades participated at the meeting. Some of the office bearers could not go over to Chennai. Com. Pavitra Chakraborty, Com.S.Rahman and Com. D.V.Dhakhthod had intimated of their inability to attend the meeting due to illness.   The meeting commenced at 10.30 AM.  Com. K. Ragavendran, Deputy Secretary General welcomed the members on behalf of the Reception committee. The reception committee had made the boarding & lodging arrangements at the meeting venue.  Com.Shiv Gopal Mishra, President, due to the late running of the flight could not reach the venue of the meeting at the prescribed time for the commencement of the metring.  He joined the meeting later.  The meeting, therefore, commended with Com. S.S. Roy in the chair. Before the business was taken up, the house observed two minutes silence to pay homage to the departed comrades during the period between the last and the present meeting. 

The agenda was introduced by Com. KKN. Kutty Seceratary General.  The following  proposals were mooted for inclusion in the agenda.

           

(i)   CGHS related issues (By com.M.N. Reddy)

(ii)  Maintenance of Website. (By Com. K.G. Jayaraj)

(iii) Com.A.K.Ghosh suggested that the first item of the agenda may be read as “review of decisions taken at the last NE meeting instead of only the programme of action.

The house approved the suggestions.  Com. Secretary General proposed that agenda item No. 3 could be taken up for discussion in the presence of Com. President, which was also accepted by the house.

On a thorough discussions of the agenda items, the meeting was concluded at 5.30 PM on the same day.  We give hereunder the decisions taken by the Executive at the meeting.

  Agenda Item No.1.  Review of decisions of the last NE meeting The house noted that the programme of action chalked out by the NE meting held at Nagpur i.e. to hold  a massive dharna at Delhi had been carried out, almost reaching the target fixed by the meeting for the participation of the comrades (i.e.96%). The house also noted that all out efforts had been made by all affiliates and COCs to make the programme a grand success. The house also appreciated the efforts made in by the Delhi Unit of AIPRPA in conducting the programme and the co-operation extended by the Chief Post Master General, Delhi Circle.

Almost all comrades took part in the discussions.  Com. Jayaraj explained the latest position emerged after discussion with the Government on the question of wage and pension revision of BSNL employees. While every comrade agreed that the programme of 25th October, 2017 was magnificent in all respects, there had been a lull in the movement thereafter.  There had been no follow up action to keep alive the issues. Many suggestions were made out in respect of the future course of action.  It was ultimately decided that:

(i)  To organize  Post card campaign eliciting the involvement of all pensioner members of the NCCPA to be concluded by 15thDecember, 2018.( The format to be written on the postcard will be prepared and sent later). It wll be addressed to the Prime Minister.  The State Units and affiliates will collect the same and would be sent to the PM between 15th and 31st Decmeber,2018.

(ii)  To mobilize members to take part ln the 5th September programme of Confederation Rally especially from the areas nearby to  Delhi.

(iii)  As decided by the all India Conference at Kolkata, we have to ensure that all the Pensioners participate in the programmes chalked out by the Central Trade Unions.   The SG informed that the Central Trade Unions were planning to have a nationwide convention at Delhi by the end of August, 2018 to declare certain programmes culminating in strike action in December, 2018. The Pensioner comrades will take part in this programme and will organize a demonstration at all centres on the day of strike

(iv)  The Confederation of CGEs have planned for a strike action on 15th November, 2018.  This is likely to be shifted to synchronies with the action of the Central Trade Unions.  The Secretary General was authorized to take appropriate decision to endorse the programmes chalked out by the Confdn.

(v)                            There will be a Dharna programme organized jointly by all the affiliates at the following centres in January, 2019. The date for the dharna will be announced later.

(a)   Trivandrum or any other place the CGPA Kerala decides.

(b)   Chennai

(c)   Hyderabad

(d)   Bangalore

(e)   Kolkata: (Including Orissa & Bihar & Jharkhand)

(f)   Guwahati. (Assam and North Estern States)

(g)   Jaipur (including Delhi)

(h)   Ambala or Chandigarh( Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J & K)

(i)    Lucknow. (whole of UP)

(j)    Bhopal( MP and Chattisgarh)

(k)   Nagpur (Vidharba region of Maharashtra)

(l)    Mumbai (Maharashtra(excluding vidharba region) and Gujarat

The respective States will finalize the date in consultation with the Secretary General. One of the Principal Office bearers of the NCCPA will attend the Dharna. The dates may preferably be fixed in the second fortnight of January, 2018.

(vi)  Mass contact or campaign programme. Feb. 2019. Mass meetings or conventions will be organized with an interaction session in which the National Sectt. Members will take part, hear the collective and individual grievances of the pensioners and chalk out what could be done in the matter.

(vii)  The NCCPA will write to the Secretary Pension and the SBI of the pendency in settling the pension re-fixation cases. 

(viii)   In the month of March, 2019, the NCCPA will organize a Token mass fasting at New Delhi.  The meting fixed a minimum of 2000 pensioner comrades to participate in the token fast at Delhi.  The other Pensioners organizations would be consulted to explore the possibilities of a joint programme . (The date will be finalized later i.e. after eliciting response from other organizations of their willingness or otherwise in the programme.

(ix)   In all the progrmmes mentioned above, the 10 point charter of demands would be projected.

(x)   The affiliates and the CGPA Units will bring to the notice of the CHQ of the various court cases which are in favour of the pensioners so as to enable the CHQ to write to the Pension Secretary for its acceptance and make it applicable to similarly placed pensioners (The date of effect of MACP need not be referred to.)

Agenda Item No.2.. The meeting decided, after detailed deliberations of the need to file the court cases in respect of both the Option No. 1 as also the date of effect of MACP. The details will be worked out by the Sectt.

Agenda  Item No.3.  Com.Shiva Gopal Misra explained the crux of the discussion at the National Anomaly committee meeting. He was of the opinion that the matter should be taken up with the Pension Secretary in the Committee under the JCM on pension related issues. He also referred to the discussions at the NJCA meeting on Minimum wage/Minimum pension, Fitment formula both for Pay and pension  He said that the NJCA will meet again on 18th to review and take further decision as how to proceed with the issue.

Agenda Item No. 4. NCCPA Journal. It was noted that unless serious efforts are taken as per the decision of the last NE meeting held at Nagpur, the circulation would not be able to be increased.  It was also noted that the very viability of the journal depends upon the circulation. The West Bengal Unit, who is in charge of the financial matters concerning the journal, has given a list of defaulters. The Sectt will act upon it.  However, it was desired that they should prepare a Receipt and Payment Account to have a clear picture of the financial difficulties. The meeting was told about certain proposals arrived at the Kolkata meeting of the comrades in charge of the publication of the journal in respect of improvement of the content of the journal.  The Secretary General reiterated that it was necessary that he receives the material for publication from all the affiliates and the State Units by 10th of each month in word form.  There had been some complaints about the non-receipt of the journal. The WB unit was requested to look into it. It was also decided that to overcome the present financial problems, the journal will be charged at Rs. 6 per copy from next month onwards and the proposal for increasing the per copy charge along with the number of pages would be placed at the next Conference. Bank Account details at Kolkata will be repeated in our circular so that all money pertaining to journals will be sent to that account only.  One of the other suggestion made at the meeting was to ensure that Hindi version of the journal is brought out to increase or widen the subscription base. 

Agenda Item No.5 & 6.  NCCPA accounts and finances: Com. Treasurer could reach Chennai only on 5th as he could not get reservation prior to that.  The prepared accounts could not be discussed at the Sectt. It was decided that Com.KKN, Com.K.Ragavendran and Com. Sidhu   will look into it when they meet on 5th September, at Delhi.   The accounts will then be circulated amongst all members/affiliates.   Com. Sharma, Rajasthan detailed the efforts undertaken by them in strengthening the finances of their unit and requested the CHQ to follow those.   He declared a donation of Rs. 1 lakh besides paying Rs. 10,000 towards their annual subscription. 

Agenda Item No. 7. Venue and date of next conference. It was informed that the Conference is due in 2019 and the same should be held in a month convenient to the host unit after June, 2019. There had been no voluntary offers from any unit.  After some discussions, it was decided that the Conference would be held at Rajasthan for which the ITPF CHQ offered all assistance.  During the discussion on the agenda item, a suggestion was mooted that the conducting of the conference being a constitutional requirement and finance should not come in the way of carrying out that responsibility.  It was, therefore, decided that donation from each member for this specific purpose may be collected so that the host unit will not have an unbearable financial burden. 

Agenda Item No. 8. Affiliation applications.  The applications received from the following organizations were considered and it was decided to grant them affiliation. 

(a) Pensioners Association, Central Water Commission.

(b) Central Ground Water board Pensioners Assn.

(c) Central Leprosy Teaching and Research Institute , Chengalpattu (TN).

Agenda Item No.9.  Constitution.  The final draft of the Constitution incorporating the amendments moved and passed at the Kolkata Conference was submitted to the house by the Secretary General.  He said that from the information he has obtained the draft had been prepared after causing some discussions with the persons who are in the knowledge of registration procedures.   The house then finally decided to apply for registration and authorize the Sectt. to make  necessary changes to get the registration formalities completed.  Com. VAN Namboodiri Patron pointed out the necessity to remove the words of sponsoring committee from the Constitution to be replaced by the Central Trade Unions.  He also wanted that each post of the office bearers must be mentioned under definitions and rules.  The house accepted his suggestions.

Agenda Item No. 10.  The issue concerning the maintenance of the website was discussed at length.  It was agreed that the website shall have the following features:

                      

(a)  Constitution.

(b)  Name of the affiliates and the Phone No. of the Chief Executive of each of the affiliate

(c)  Name of the office bearers and their phone Numbers

(d)  The Mailing list

(e)   Circulars and notices issued from the CHQ from time to time.

(f)   Important decision of the Govt. with link to the original orders

CGHS facilities: 

Many comrades raised issues pertaining to the grievances of the pensioners over the functioning of the CGHS.  Com.M.N.Reddy wanted the problems connected with Local purchases to be removed immediately.  He along with Com. Somayya suggested that the hired buildings where the CGHS  dispensaries are located hardly has facilities; they also wanted emergency dispensaries to come up in Hyderabad. Com. Secretary General informed the house the issue of empanelment of hospitals has already taken up with the Government .  He requested all Units to send in a self-contained note detailing the difficulties faced by the beneficiaries so as to enable him to prepare a comprehensive note and submit the same for discussion with the Health Secretary.  Com. President also assured for arranging an early meeting with the health secretary in the matter.

Com.K.Ragavendran, Deputy SG NCCPA: Raised the rate of subscription of CGHS for pre-2016 Postal Pensioners. Comrade Shiv Gopal Mishra wanted a note on this issue to enable him to take up the matter with the Government.

Com. SG reiterated the need for a comprehensive note dealing with the issues:  viz. out –patient related problems, medicine dispensing and empanelment of hospitals in each CGHS centre.He wanted the Note from units to be received by him by 10th September, 2019.

Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Patron moved a resolution for grant of Universal Pension to  all senior citizens above the age of 60 whether they are Government Employees or not. The house adopted the resolution unanimously.

The house then decided to meet again in February, 2019 to review the implementation of the programme chalked out for December and January and take necessary steps to make the action slated for March, 2019 a grand success.

Another issue that came up for discussion was the need to exempt the Pensioners from payment of Income tax   After some discussions, it was decided  that for the present a demand should be placed to raise the taxable minimum in respect of pensioners/senior citizens to Rs. 5 lakhs per year.

The following comrades took part in the deliberations of the house.

COMRADES

1. Shiv Gopal Mishra,
2. V.A.N. Namboodiri
3. S.S.Roy
4. K.K.N. Kutty
5. K.Ragavendran
6. K.G. Jayaraj
7. M.N. Reddy
8. D.K.Debnath
9. Prabhakaran Nair
10. T.Sudhakaran
11. S.K.Sharma
12. A.K.Ghosh
13. Ishwar Singh Dabas
14. CPK Dasan
15. Somayya

Com. Secretary General profusely thanked the AIPRPA GS Comrade K.Ragavendran and the team of his organization for the excellent arrangements made to hold the meeting of the Executive at Chennai.

The National Executive was declared as concluded by the President.  

*****

                

CHARTER OF DEMANDS.

 As finalized at the Chennai NE meeting On 05.08.2018

1. Implement Option No. 1 as  a pension fitment formula as recommended by the 7thCPC and Grant MACP benefit w.e.f 1.01.206 as per the Supreme Court  judgment. 

2. Revise the Pension of BSNL absorbed retirees immediately with 15% fitment, recommended by the 3rd PRC and approved by the government from 01-01-2017, delinking the wage revision in BSNL. 

3. Revise  pension of Central Autonomous Body pensioners. 

4. (a) Provide notional fixation of pension under Option No. 3 on the basis of the pay scale/pay level of the cadre or grade from which the pensioner retired. (b) Provide fixation of pension in the case of all pre 2006 pensioners on the basis of the grade pay/pay level or pay scale of the post or cadre from which one has retired as per the judgments of Courts. 

5. Extend the benefit of CS(MA) Rules  to all pensioners who are not covered by CGHS. 

6. Increase the FMA to Rs. 2000 as has been granted to PF Pensioners. 

7. Raise the minimum pension to 60% of the Minimum wage. i.e. Rs. 10,800 p.m. 

8. Restore the commutation portion of pension after 10 years. 

9. Provide increased rates of pension on attainment of 70 years onwards. 

10. Scrap the New Contributory pension scheme and restore the defined benefit pension              to all CGEs irrespective of their date of entry into the Government service.