Com. P. Pandurangarao, General
Secretary, AIPEU GDS (NFPE) presented a Memorandum to Hon’ble Minster of
Communications Sri. Sachin Pilot, on 16.05.2012, demanding Departmentalization
of GDS
MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED TO HON’BLE STATE
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS
With due respects and regards, We the All
India Postal Employees Union – GDS (NFPE) is submitting the following issues
for your kind and sympathetic consideration and favourable decision in
mitigating the genuine demands the downtrodden and poor GDS employees working
in the Department of Posts.
1. DEPARTMENTALISATION OF RURAL POST OFFICES AND ALSO GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS:
The Supreme Court in its judgement delivered on 22.07.1977 held that
the ED employee is not an agent, not a casual labourer, and not a part time
worker but he is the holder of civil post outside the regular civil service and
therefore declared that Article 311(2) of the constitution of India is
attracted.Except conduct and service and application of disciplinary
provisions, no other benefits available to the Departmental employees are
extended to the ED employees. The question of departmentalisation of ED agents remains
pending for long and is denied continuously on one pretext or the other.
In the present set up of the social - economic structure of rural
areas, the daily wage for an agricultural labourer has been fixed much above
the daily rate of an ED agent. Resultantly, the ED employees are not able to
meet the family expenses and have one square meal a day.
The declaration of Justice Talwar that
“95.70% joined the Postal Department as ED agents hoping to get full time
absorption and only 4.08% took it as a side occupation is the real fact still
prevailing and they are solely depending upon their wages for their livelihood”.
In rural areas, still many of them are underpaid and lesser in the standard of
living while comparing the NREGS beneficiaries.
With the hope of departmentalization at
one day, they are prolonging their life with more expectation of their future.
Their hopes can be considered by introducing various new services in the rural
areas with the cooperation's of the Human resource ministry and other developmental
activities.
The Post office alone has such a vast
network and infrastructure and it can be fully utilized by providing various
new services to rural public through post offices by its own saving bank scheme
to distribute the Govt welfare measures as if we are doing under the NREGIS
Scheme.
We may attempt with the following to
provide more services to public as well as departmentalise all the existing
BOs.
1. The
works like pension payment, sale of certificates, direct booking of money
orders, SB operations with maintenance of independent ledgers may be assigned
to the departmentalized branch office so that the existing branch postmasters
will be with entrusted more work.
2.
If the proposal of full computerization of BOs is materialised in the ensuing
year as proposed, there is every possibility for introducing all kinds of bill works like
acceptance of Electricity bills, land revenue, panchayat taxes etc., under the
business activities of the Postal department or tie up with such governmental
organizations.
3. Large
scale expansion of telecom can be explored through the branch offices and
acceptance of all telephone bills, mobile bills may be entrusted. The
Department of Posts may also consider in taking licences for running telecom
services in rural areas with subsidiary rates to cater the requirement of rural
public as if in vogue in many foreign countries.
4. Since
all the BOs are proposed to be provided with computers and decided to introduce
various new services, it is possible to maintain the following works also in
the BOs very efficiently with the manpower available in abundance.
a) Collection, maintenance and
modifications of any of the work related to census in rural areas.
b) Maintenance, Verification and
preservation of records pertaining to the Citizens identity card issued by the
Govt of India directly by the Dept of post.
c) Extension of MG NREGS work through
post offices by providing work norms for the work instead of incentive as at
present extended.
d) Enhance the working hours for eight
hours and introduce various new works at village level with the cooperation of
other Govt and public sector organizations.
e) Ensuring that all various new schemes
introduced by the Govt as policies will be reached to the village level through
our network spread over the nation.
It is pertinent to mention that there are
more than 10% of the existing BOS having the work load for more than five
hours. In accordance with Marathe time test under para 93 (iv) and para 114 (i)
if a single handed post office is having 11 hours’ workload, the second PA can
be augmented. On the similar analogy such BOs having more than five hours workload
can be straight away departmentalized. Further whenever any vacancy arises in
the GDS cadre, the duties can be merged for making the office as a departmental
office. The recommendations of the Justice Talwar Committee to freeze the GDS
system in order to departmentalize all the existing GDS should be given a due
consideration.
In order to departmentalize the GDS, the
department should consider for fixing the norms for the following works
immediately.
1. Work related to NREGIS payment.
2. Work related to verification of
Electrol& Election work.
3. Work related to collecting statistics
for census etc.
4. Work related to verification of mobile
phone connections of BSNL & others.
5. Work related to acceptance of
Electricity bills, water bills & telephone bills.
6. Work related to business activities,
social security schemes introduced in various circles.
If time factors for all the work
performed by the GDS is formulated, certainly it will pave way for the
regularization of many GDS who are actually working for more than six hours but
not availed the benefits of departmentalization. We don't want any incentives
or perks denying our regularization.
The Honble Minister of Communications & IT Sri Kapil Sibil has
sought the department about the feasibility of regularization of all the GDS and
to departmentalise all the BOs for which the department has furnished that it
will cost some exorbitant amount. We sincerely place our abundant thanks and
respects on record to the Minister's desire to departmentalize the GDS and his
initiatives but as usual the blocks were placed without really considering the
realities and the position existed at field level.
If all the GDS are departmentalized by scrapping the existing GDS
system with eight hours work and each official is assigned with various new
works to improve the functioning of rural post offices in order to make it more
remunerative, that will overcome the financial problem. This vast
infrastructure will really be an invaluable asset to the department in this era
of e-commerce and e-governance and not at all a liability. If post offices are
kept open for more hours by introducing more new items of work, there is every
possibility of increasing the workload.
We further express our sincere gratitude to the Hon’ble Minister for
the positive steps being initiated by the department with regard to (i) full
protection of TRCA (ii) revising the cash handling norms (iii) with drawl of
25% outside recruitment condition in Postman cadre (iv) relaxing the conditions
for compassionate appointment (v) parity in bonus ceiling. We hope that
positive orders will be issued in all the issues raised by us earlier.
It is humbly requested to kindly consider the above and cause action
to departmentalise the rural post offices and improve the rural postal network.
Dated – 16.05.2012
Place – New Delhi
(P.PANDURANGARAO)
GENERAL SECRETARY