BSNL pensioners’ association stages protest over payment delays in Amritsar

Members of the All-India BSNL Pensioners’ Welfare Association, Amritsar unit, held a protest in front of the BSNL office on Albert Road on Wednesday.

Addressing the protesters, Jatinder Singh, general secretary of the association, said the Department of Telecom (DoT), which was responsible for industrial dearness allowance (IDA) payments, and the disbursal of other benefits as per the Pension Rules (37A), was not making revised IDA payments with effect from January 1, 2026, and April 1, 2026, despite repeated meetings having been held in this regard.

“This is nothing but a deliberate harassment of aged pensioners,” he said, demanding that the DoT immediately release these payments, as had been done in the past. He added that the payments in question were not a “bounty”, but a small compensation for the increase in prices of the essential commodities.