AIPEU JABALPUR

DOP PLANS TO RECRUIT AROUND 55,000 GDSS THROUGH ONLINE MODE IN NOVEMBER: B.V SUDHAKAR

HYDERABAD, SEPTEMBER 16: The Departments of Posts plans to recruit around 55,000 Grameen Dak Sevaks through online mode in November, B.V Sudhakar, Secretary, Department of Posts, said.

Addressing a Press Conference here on Friday, Sudhakar informed that the software required for online recruitment is at the testing stage and the online method will ensure transparency in this recruitment

In order to address the grievances of the postal customers, the National Service Call Centre - 1924 - was launched on September 12, 2016. Customers can call from any network to this number and they will be given a unique 11-digit ticket ID to check the status of their complaint. Nearly 98 per cent grievances and complaints were resolved, he said in a statement.

Post Payment Bank

Explaining about the Post Payment Bank, he said the focus will be on Government to customer services by providing services like Direct Benefits Transfer, which could also be helpful in the financial inclusion. There will be no lending to the customers and deposits can be made up to Rs. 1 lakh.

Total 650 branches of post payment bank will be set up by May 2017 and nearly one lakh employees will work on this set up, he added.

Solar power

Sudhakar also informed to harness solar power, 4000 Postal buildings across country will utilize solar power in the coming days. To start with Postal Department headquarters at New Delhi will install Solar Power panels which can save up to Rs. 17 lakh of monthly power bill.

The business across Postal services registered growth with 3.8% growth in unregistered postal traffic, 6% in registered posts, 7.3% in Speed Post, 6.8% in savings banks mobilization and 25% growth in Philately, during 2015-16 as against 2014-15, he said.

Postal Department achieved business of Rs. 14, 900 crore as against planned target of Rs. 14, 600 crore, he added

GRANT OF BONUS TO GDS WITH REVISED CEILING @ RS.7000- FROM 2014-15

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

PF-No.PF-PJCA/2016 Dated: 16^th September, 2016

The Secretary

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan

New Delhi – 110 001

SUB: - GRANT OF BONUS TO GDS WITH REVISED CEILING @ RS.7000- FROM 2014-15 – REQ – REG.

Respected Sir

The Government of India, Ministry of Finance issued order on revised ceiling limit of PLB from Rs.3500- to Rs.7000- from the year 2014-15 (OM No. 7/4/2014-E-III A dated 29-08-2016) to all Central Govt. Employees. It is apparent to note that the calculation of Productivity Linked Bonus for the year 2014-15 with revised ceiling limit @ Rs.7000-to regular departmental employees in the Department of Posts has been granted vide letter No. .26-01/2015-PAP dated 02-09-2016 and the arrears have also been drawn in favour of the regular employees.

The case of 3 lakh GDS employees regarding applicability of revised ceiling limit @Rs.7000- is yet to be finalized by the Department.

Therefore, it is requested to kindly expedite the grant of Bonus to 3 lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks at the revised ceiling @ Rs.7000- from 2014-15 prospectively.

Early action is highly solicited.

Yours faithfully

(D. Theagarajan) (R.N. Parashar)

Secretary General FNPO Secretary General

NOTE ON ALLOWANCES

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

PF-No.PF-PJCA/2016 Dated:16^th September, 2016

The Secretary,

Department of Post,

Sansad Marg,

Dak Bhawan,

New Delhi-110 001

NOTE ON ALLOWANCES

1. The recommendation of the 7^th CPC that Tough Location Allowance will not be admissible alongiwth Special Duty Allowance (SDA) should not be accepted by Government.

In para 8.10.62 of the 7^th CPC the following recommendation is made –

Para 8.10.62 - There are some “Special Compensatory” Allowances that are based on geographical location and are meant to compensate for hardship faced by employees posted in such places. It is proposed to subsume these allowances under the umbrella of “Tough Location Allowance”.

In Para 8.10.63 the Commission made the following recommendations –

“The Tough Location Allowance will, however, not be admissible along with Special Duty Allowance”.

At present, special allowances are paid in the following places along with Special Duty Allowance.

(a) Assam and North Easter Region – Special Compensatory allowance paid alongwith Special Duty Allowance.

(b) Andaman & Nicobar Islands – Special Compensatory Allowance paid alongwith Island Special Duty Allowance.

Demand of the staff side: In all the above cases “Tough Location Allowance” may be paid alongwith Special Duty Allowance. Withdrawal of any of the above allowances, will result in substantial financial loss to the employees. An existing benefit should not be withdrawn, under the pretext of 7^th CPC’s unjustified recommendation.

2. Special Duty Allowance in N. E. Region should be uniform for all at 30%.

In Para 8.17.115 the 7^th CPC made the following observation –

“Special Duty Allowance (SDA) is granted to attract civilian employees to seek posting in North Eastern and Ladhak Regions, in view of the risk and hardship prevailing in these areas. Currently the rate of SDA is 37.5% of Basic Pay for AIS officers and 12.5% of Basic Pay for other employees.

In para 8.17.118 the Commission made the following recommendation –

“Accordingly in line with our general approach of rationalizing the percentage based allowance by a factor of 0.8, SDA for AIS officers should be paid at the rate of 30% of Basic Pay and for other civilian employees at the rate of 10% of their basic pay.

Demand of the staff side: The discrimination between AIS officers and other civilian employees in payment of SDA should not be there and all may be paid at the same rate i.e. at the rate of 30% recommended by the pay commission for AIS officers.

3. Allowances which are not reported to 7^th CPC by the concerned departments.

In para 8.2.5 of the report, the 7^th CPC made the following recommendation.

“We have considered all allowances reported to us, in this chapter. Any allowances, not mentioned here (And hence not reported to the commission) shall cease to exist immediately. In case there is any demand or requirement for continuation of an existing allowance which has not been deliberated upon or covered in this report, it should be re-notified by the ministry concerned after obtaining due approval of Ministry of Finance and should be put in the public domain”.

Demand of the Staff Side: The above recommendation should not be accepted, as it amounts to penalizing employees for the fault of the departmental heads. The following allowance which are not reported to the commission should be retained and enhanced.

(a) PO & RMS Accountants’ Special allowance

Postal Assistants and Sorting Assistants of Postal department are posted as PO & RMS Accountant after passing a qualifying examination. Taking into consideration their work which require much skill, application of mind, and knowledge of all rulings, Special allowance is granted to them. This allowance may beretained and enhanced.

4. Savings Bank Allowance in Post offices:

In Department of Posts, Savings Bank Allowance is granted to Postal Assistant working in Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) for shouldering strenuous and complicated nature of Savings Bank work. Postal Assistants need to qualify an aptitude test to get this allowance. The current rates are Rs.300/- per month for fully engaged staff and Rs.150/- per month for partially engaged staff.

In para 8.10.80 of the report, the Commission recommended as follows:

“Savings Bank Allowance be abolished as the justification provided by the concerned ministry for the grant of this allowance is not sufficient for their continuance”.

Demand of staff side: Savings Bank Allowance should be retained and enhanced in view of the justification given above.

5. Special Compensatory (Hill area) Allowance

In para 8.10.50 of the report, the 7^th CPC made the following recommendation – “There is hardly any hardship involved at altitude of 1000 meters (more than 3000 feets) above sea level. Hence, it is recommended that the allowance should be abolished.

Demand of the staff side: The above observation of the commission is not based on ground realities but based on presumption. Hence the above allowance should be retained and enhanced.

6. Family Planning Allowance

In para 8.17.50 of the report, the 7^th CPC made the following recommendations – “The commission recognizes the fact that most of the benefit related to children viz. children Education Allowance, maternity Leave, LTC etc. are available for two children only. Moreover, the level of awareness regarding appropriate family size has also gone up among Government servants. Hence, a separate allowance aimed towards population control is not required. Accordingly, it is recommended that family planning allowance should be abolished.

Demand of the staff side: The above allowance may be retained. In any case, the Family Planning Allowance already granted should not be withdrawn.

7. Fixed Medical Allowance

In Para 8.17.51 of the report the 7^th CPC observed as follows –

It is granted to pensioners for meeting expenditure on day to day medical expenses that do not require hospitalization, presently payable at the rate of Rs.500/- p.m. Demands have been received to increase the rate of this allowance to Rs.2000/-.

In para 8.17.52 the Commission made the following recommendation-

The Commission notes that the allowance was enhanced from Rs.300/- to Rs.500/- p.m from 19.11.2014. As such, further enhancement of this allowance is not recommended.

Demand of the staff side: in the memorandum submitted to 7^th CPC, the staff side had elaborately explained the justification for enhancing the FMA to Rs.2000/-. As everybody knows, old age persons are suffering from many deceases and as the cost of medicines has increased manifold the expenditure on outdoor medical treatment has also gone up like anything. With Rs.500/- p.m no pensioner can meet the medical expenses. The commission has not conducted any scientific and realistic study, but simply rejected the demand stating that it is enhanced recently. It is once again requested that the FMA for pensioners may be enhanced to Rs.2000/- p.m as in the case of EPF pensioners.

8. Cash handling Allowance

In para 8.10.9 of the report, the 7^th CPC observed as follows: -

It is paid to cashiers working in Central Government departments, for handling of cash. The current rates are –

Average amount of monthly cash disbursed	Rate per month
Below Rs. 50000	230
Over Rs. 50000 upto 200000	450
Over 200000 upto 500000	600
Over 500000 upto 1000000	750
Above 1000000	900

Again in Para 8.10.57 the commission observed as follows: -

Treasury Allowance – This allowance is granted in Department of Posts to Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers working in Head Post offices and large Sub Post offices for handling cash. The present rate is Rs.360/- p.m for handling cash upto Rs.2 lakhs and Rs.480/- p.m. for handling cash more than Rs.2 lakhs.

In para 8.10.80 the commission made the following recommendation

Assistant cashier Allowance, Cash handling allowance and Treasury Allowance –

With technological advances and growing emphasis on banking, these allowances have lost their relevance. Hence it is recommended that not only all salary be paid through banks, but Ministries/departments should work out plans to first minimize and then eliminate all sorts of cash transactions.

Demand of the staff Side: The recommendation of the Commission is not realistic. Till that time the cash transactions are eliminated the Cash handling allowance and Treasury allowance should be retained and enhanced.

9. Cycle Allowance

In para 8.15.10 of the report the 7^th CPC made the following observation.

“It is paid where the duties attached to the post require extensive use of bicycle and the official concerned has to use and maintain his own cycle for official journeys. The existing rate is Rs.90 p.m.

In para 15.11 the commission made the following recommendation –

“The Commission is of the view that amount of this allowance is megre and the allowance itself is outdated. Hence it should be abolished.

Demand of the staff side: This allowance is at present given to more than 40000 Postmen staff and about 50000 GraminDakSevaks of the Postal Department. When the commission itself observed that an official using his own bicycle for official duties has to incur expenditure for maintenance of the cycle. When the maintenance work is done for performing official duties, the amount should be reimbursed to the official, whether the amount is megre or not – Hence this allowance should be retained and enhanced.

10. Overtime Allowance

In para 8.17.97 of the report the 7^th CPC made the following recommendations -

Hence while this commission shares the sentiments of the predecessors that Government offices need to increase productivity and efficiency and recommended that OTA should be abolished (except for operational staff and industrial employees who are governed by statutory provisions) at the same time it is also recommended that in case the Government decides to continue with OTA for these categories of staff for which it is not statutory requirement, then the rate of OTA for such staff should be increased by 50% from their current levels.

Demand of the staff side: OTA rates are revised in the year 1987. For the last 30 years no revision has taken place. Eventhough an arbitration award for enhancement is given, the same is also pending implementation for the last 20 years. After 7^th CPC revision, one hour wage of an MTS is Rs. 75/- where as rate for one hour OTA is Rs.15.85 only!!! Hence it is requested that overtime allowance wherever sanctioned must be based upon the actual basic pay of the entitled employee.

11. Dress Allowance

(a) Para 08.16.14 may be referred. The 7^th CPC recommended four slabs of Dress allowance per year for various categories of employees. In the Department of Posts there are about 75000 Postmen and Multi-Tasking staff wearing uniform. Their name is not mentioned in the category of employees shown in the table. Even if it is included in the other categories of staff, then the Dress Allowance per year will be Rs.5000/- only. At present the Postmen/MTS staff of Postal department are getting more than Rs.5000/- for uniform plus washing allowance. Hence it should be made clear under which category the Postmen and MTS staff of Postal department are to be included, in the dress allowance table recommended by the 7^th CPC. These official may be granted Rs.10000/- as dress allowance.

(b) It is further demanded that the Dress Allowance ceiling to be raised to Rs.32400 per annum.

(d) Washing allowance should be increased from Rs.90/- to 150/- Rupees per month.

Yours faithfully

(D. Theagarajan) (R.N. Parashar)

Secretary General FNPO Secretary General

ENHANCEMENT OF CEILING OF BONUS TO GDS

Today on dated 16-09.2016, Com. R.N. Parashar, Secretary General NFPE met DDG (Estt) Shri S.K. Dashora and enquired about the progress of enhancement of Bonus Ceiling of GDS.

Shri Dashora intimated that the matter is in process. File has been sent to JS&FA and after approval from him will be sent to Finance Ministry for sanction.

NFPE is trying its best to get the ceiling of Bonus raised for GDS as early as possible

FM LAUNCHES THE WEB RESPONSIVE PENSIONER’S SERVICE PORTAL

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

14-September-2016 16:49 IST

FM launches the Web Responsive Pensioner’s Service portal to provide better services to the pensioners; highlights the importance of data analytics in assessing the quality of Government expenditure and revenue.

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley commended the new initiatives undertaken by the Office of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) to serve the pensioners better through the newly launched Web Responsive Pensioner’s Service portal among others. The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the new office premises of the Office of the CGA in the national capital here today. The Finance Minister lauded the role of CGA in handling the growing volume of Government revenue and expenditure through IT initiatives like the PFMS (Public Financial management System) and NTRP (Non Tax Receipt Portal). He also highlighted the importance of data analytics in assessing the quality of Government expenditure and revenue. Further Shri Jaitley appreciated the role of PFMS in ensuring that the funds reach the intended beneficiaries and are essentially used for the purpose they were intended for. The function was co-presided by the Minister of State for Expenditure, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and was attended among others the by several Secretaries of different Ministries/Departments and other senior functionaries of the Government of India.

On the occasion, the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley launched a new Digital India initiative taken up by the O/o the Controller General of Accounts, namely, a Web Responsive Pensioner’s Service. This portal developed by the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) provides a one-stop solution for pensioners to access information relating to status of pension cases, and pension payments processed by Central Ministries/Departments and Banks. This service will also help in speedy redressal of pensioner’s grievances.

Later, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was also signed between the O/o Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), India aimed at strengthening the Internal Audit function in line Ministries and Departments of the Government of India.

The new building is designed and constructed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and conforms to new norms of a Green building and for energy conservation. A grid integrated solar panel system is also planned to be installed for harnessing solar energy.

Clerk Grade (for Multi Tasking Staff) Limited Departmental Competitive Examination 2016-intimation of vacancies TO VIEW, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

POSTAL COMPLAINTS IN THE COUNTRY WILL BE SOLVED WITHIN 24 HOURS- SINHA

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology

12-September-2016 14:12 IST

Postal complaints in the country will be solved within 24 hours- Sinha

Manoj Sinha launches India Post Help Centre and a Toll Free Number 1924

Ministry of Communications today launched India Post Help Centre and a Toll Free Number 1924 to address the grievances of people in the Country related to Department of Posts. Inaugurating the Help Centre here, Minister of Communications, Shri Manoj Sinha said that the move comes in the wake of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation) review meetings, where he exhorts the Union Ministers to actively address the grievances of the common man by setting up and strengthening Public Redressal Grievances Mechanism.

Shri Sinha said that the Help Centre has been launched in three languages -Hindi, English and Malayalam and gradually all regional languages will be included which are mentioned in the Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

He said, the Help Centre will be functioning from 8 A.M to 8 P.M on all working days except holidays. Shri Sinha said that soon, in every circle a nodal officer will be appointed to bring efficiency in redressal mechanism.

The Minister stressed that except in the case of policy decisions, all complaints related to postal services will be addressed within 24 Hours. Shri Sinha recalled that last month he had launched “Twitter Sewa” for addressing the complaints and concerns of common man and other stake-holders in the telecom and postal sectors, where on an average 100 complaints are received daily related to postal services. He said, the Department of Posts is one of the 8^th largest Department/Ministry in terms of numbers of complaints received. A toll free helpline number ‘1924’ would be available for customers from all over India from landline/mobile phone of service providers namely AirTel, Idea, Vodaphone, Telenor, Aircel, MTS, Reliance etc.

The complaints received from the complainant on toll free number ‘1924’ would be registered in Computerized Customer Centre (CCC) Portal by the operators at the Dak Bhawan and the 11 digits ticket number would be provided to the complainants. If the complaint already registered, the complainant would be informed the status as viewed in CCC Portal. As soon as the complaint is generated on CCC Portal, the concerned post office will take immediate necessary action to resolve it and would upload the status.

All the Postal Circles will have a Control Room for monitoring and redressal of complaints. The Nodal Officer in each Circle will open the CCC Portal every day and check all the complaints beginning with “100030 - …… the Toll Free Complaints” and will examine for quick disposal. The Circle Heads would direct to all the Post Offices concerned to ensure that they log in CCC Portal at the beginning of day and at the end of the day compulsorily.

The case disposal time is one working day subject to policy matters. The complainant would be informed, if it involves policy matter. A reasonable reply should be uploaded in the CCC Portal. The Circle will update the status of each such cases every 24 hrs. through email on adgpg@indiapost.gov.in. The name of Officers with email address and mobile number in each Circle who will be Nodal Officer, should be sent on email adgpg@indiapost.gov.in .CPMG should review the ‘1924’ pending cases every day and in case of pendency going beyond 24 hours would give full details and convey his/her observation to PG Cell of Directorate which will provide weekly report to the Office of Secretary (Posts). The Circles would provide utmost priority and quick disposal of the complaints received through Toll Free Centre. All the Circles would propagate and give wide publicity of “Toll Free Number 1924” within their jurisdiction through appropriate medium within budgetary limit.

GRANT OF BONUS TO GDS WITH REVISED CEILING @ RS.7000- FROM 2014-15-REG

National Federation of Postal Employees

1^st Floor North Avenue Post Office Building, New Delhi-110 001

Phone: 011.23092771 e-mail: nfpehq@gmail.com

Mob: 9868819295/9810853981 website: http://www.nfpe.blogspot.com

No.P-16(g)/2016 Dated : 14^th September,2016