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
