BSNL pensioners stage massive demonstration
Our Correspondent
Ludhiana, November 19
Pensioners of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL/DOT) organised a massive demonstration in front of the office of General Manager (Telecom) at Bharat Nagar Chowk here today on the call of its Central Headquarters for the settlement of long pending demands.
Addressing the rally, Jaswant Singh, district secretary, and Satish Kumar Thamman, district president, of the All-India BSNL-DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) said their demand for revision of pension on 78.2 per cent of the IDA was pending since January 2007. “Persistent agitation and repeated representations to the government had failed to evoke any response with the result that pensioners are suffering financial loss due to the non-revision of pensions.”
They further said the pensioners were facing hardships in getting the medical treatment in reputed hospitals in the city due to the non-empanelment of hospitals. The leaders of the pensioners’ body said another major problem that pensioners were facing was the location of the section dealing with the pensioners was on the third floor of the GMT office. In the wake of frail health of most of the elderly pensioners, the section should be shifted on the ground floor, they demanded.
Harbhajan Dass, organising secretary of the AIBDPA, Punjab; Balbir Singh, former district president; Daulat Singh, assistant district secretary; and Pritam Chand focussed on the pending demands while emphasising upon the department to issue proper identity cards to retired employees, change their old and non-functional telephone sets and also print a telephone directory of serving and retired employees.
Addressing the pensioners, the BSNL Employees Union president, Balbir Singh, assured that their genuine demands would be taken up with the national president of the AIBDPA VAN Namboodiri as well as the BSNL/DOT managements.
