The two day All India Conference of the All India BSNL DoT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) is being held at Mysuru on 20^th & 21^st December, 2022. Com.Ashok Dhawale, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, is delivering the inaugural address. The Conference is expected to discuss and take decisions on the vital issues of the 3.5. lakh pensioners, including the important issue of pension revision. Com.P.Abhimanyu, General Secretary, BSNLEU, is addressing this Conference. BSNLEU wishes the Conference all success.

As per the new policy for providing accommodation to the recognised unions and associations, issued by the Corporate Office, accommodation for union office will be provided only at the CHQ, Circle and BA levels. As per this new policy, office accommodation will not be provided to the district union at the OA level. BSNLEU has taken up this issue seriously with the Corporate Management and has demanded that office accommodation should be provided to the district unions at the OA level, wherever 15 or more paid members are there. In continuation of this, CHQ has collected the names of the district unions, functioning at the OA level, having paid membership of 15 or more. This list will be sent to the Corporate Office on Monday. Before that, CHQ has circulated this list to all the circle secretaries. They are requested to kindly check-up this list. In case of any error, the same may be reported to the General Secretary, through WhatsApp immediately.

The All India Convention of BSNLWWCC, held at Kanyakumari on 10.02.2022, has raised certain important demands of the BSNL working women. Resolutions have been passed on crucial issues. The All India Convention has also elected a 13 member new All India Committee of the BSNLWWCC. The CHQ of BSNLEU has written letter today, to Shri Arvind Vadnerkar, Director (HR), communicating to the BSNL Management, the decisions taken, resolutions passed and also the election of the new All India Committee. The letter is enclosed.

A massive Kisan Mazdoor Joint Convention was organised in the Talkatora Indoor Stadium at New Delhi on 05.09.2022. The Joint Convention has decided to organise a massive Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally at New Delhi, during the 2^nd part of the Budget Session of the Parliament. It has now been decided that, this Rally will be organised on 05^th April, 2023. This rally will be organised against the pro-corporate, anti-worker and anti-kisan policies of the government. BSNLEU was a participant in the Joint Kisan Mazdoor Convention held at New Delhi and thus party to the decisions taken in that Convention. Accordingly, BSNLEU will also be massively participating in the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally to be organised at New Delhi on 05th April, 2023. Circle and district unions are requested to immediately organise our comrades for massively participating in the rally.

A question was raised in the Lok Sabha on 14^th December, 2022, by Shri G.M. Siddeshwar. The question raised by the Hon’ble MP and the reply given by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister for Communications, are enclosed.

The IDA increase of the Non-Executives of BSNL, for the period from 01.10.2020 to 30.06.2021, has been wrongly frozen by the BSNL Management. BSNLEU filed a case in the Hon’ble Kerala High Court against this freezing of IDA. Based on this, the Hon’ble Court has directed the CMD BSNL to make payment of the IDA arrears. Under these circumstances, the DoT issued letter on 17.02.2021, directing the CMD BSNL not to make payment of the IDA arrears. Consequent to this, the IDA arrears has not been paid. BSNLEU has already written letter to the Secretary, Telecom, demanding to withdraw this direction. Once again, BSNLEU wrote a letter today, to the Member (Services), requesting him to withdraw the direction of the DoT, so that BSNL can make payment of the IDA arrears to the Non-Executives.

The CHQ of BSNLEU has been allotted with a Type-IV quarters in Kalibari Marg, New Delhi. Even as per the new Policy for Allotment of Accommodation to the Unions and Associations, the CHQ of BSNLEU is entitled for a Type-IV quarters. However, the Building Section of the Corporate Office is repeatedly sending letters to the CHQ of BSNLEU, directing it to vacate it’s quartes allotted in the Kalibari Marg. Hence, the CHQ has written to the Director (HR), requesting him to stop this harassment.

BSNL Employees are being denied Wage Revision, based on the recommendation of the 3^rd Pay Revision Committee. The AUAB has been demanding that, BSNL should be exempted from the affordability clause of the 3^rd Pay Revision Committee. The AUAB has all along been telling the government that, BSNL became a loss making Company only because of the government policies and not because of the inefficiency of the employees. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the erstwhile Hon’ble Minister for Communications, had accused the UPA government for the financial crisis of BSNL. However, it is regrettable that, the government did not accept the pleadings of the AUAB to exempt BSNL from the affordability clause of the 3^rd PRC. In this connection, an interesting debate has taken place in the Parliament yesterday. BJP’s Davengere MP, Shri G.M. Siddeshwara, raised a question as to why BSNL’s network connection was very poor. Replying to this question, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister of Communications stated that, the bad condition of BSNL’s services is due to “certain political parties, during the UPA government, using BSNL as a cash cow”. The statement of the Hon’ble Minister for Communications, confirms the stand of the AUAB that, BSNL has gone into the financial crisis only due to the anti-BSNL measures of the government. When this being the fact, why the government is not exempting BSNL from the affordability clause of the 3^rd PRC, so that BSNL employees could get Wage Revision?