Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Dharna Programme at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, scheduled on 15.03.2017 deferred by CBPRO after making broad-based consultation with constituents of CBPRO and affiliates of AIBPARC

We reproduce below the circular issued by CBPRO.
QUOTE :
CIRCULAR 004/2017 Dated 01.03.2017
Dear Comrades,
Sub: DHARNA PROGRAMME AT JANTAR MANTAR, DELHI - DEFERRED
We have vide our circular 001/2017 dated 21.01.2017 advised you about the demonstrative action programmes proposed by CBPRO in regard to our long pending issues of non-updation of Pension, Denial of 100% DA neutralisation to pre-2002 Retirees, improvement in Family Pension and urging Banks to bear the entire Medical Insurance Premium cost as extended to serving Employees and Officers. 
Our call for demonstrative action programmes as mentioned in the circular evoked lot of enthusiasm among the membership and Delhi State unit of CBPRO started with right earnest preparation for the centralized Dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 15th March, 2017 by holding meetings and obtaining required permission from the authorities.
Meanwhile we also further activated our meetings and interactions with the concerned authorities like IBA, top Ministry Officials and conciliation proceedings in the office of Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Mumbai.
Our delegation to IBA had a full scale meeting with the Chief Executive of IBA and his team of Senior Officials on 15.02.2017 as per our programme. It was a cordial meeting where the issues were discussed in detail and the Chief Executive IBA conveyed to us their positive and pro-active concern in regard to all the issues of the Pensioners and Retirees and the requirement of the necessary response from the members of the Management Committee of IBA and as well as from the Finance Ministry in respect of our issues which will help in materialising our requests.
Immediately after the meeting with IBA, we met the top officials of the Finance Ministry on  21.02.2017 seeking their required intervention in regard to the resolution of our issues. We are encouraged by their positive response indicating to us that they have started looking at the issues again after the hectic demonetization and Central Government Budget exercise.
We again participated in the conciliation proceedings on 28.02.2017 at Mumbai. The respected Assistant Labour Commissioner after receiving inputs from us and endorsement of our views by AIBOC in the earlier proceedings on 24.01.2017 and observations of IBA representatives during the proceedings on 28.02.2017 advised to us that in view of the ongoing conciliation proceedings we should avoid agitational actions. We also suggested that IBA should come out with acceptable proposals as per provisions of settlements and Pension Regulations in respect of the issues raised by us. We will be issuing a detailed circular regarding conciliation proceedings separately.
In the light of the above, after consulting all the constituents of CBPRO, it is decided to Defer our Dharna Programme at Jantar Mantar, scheduled for 15.03.2017 and take advantage of the positive climate created by our meetings and interactions with IBA, the Ministry and our participation in the conciliation proceedings.
We deeply regret the inconveniences caused to our members especially those who are planning to come from across the country to participate in the Dharna and who have already made travel arrangements to undergo the ordeal of travelling long distances despite their advanced age. Comrades, we had witnessed the enthusiastic participation of over six thousand Retirees last time on 11.12.2015 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi and the number of participants this time would have gone much higher. However as we are seeing some positive and favourable signals from the IBA and the Government, we are confident that the membership will appreciate the decision to defer the centralized Dharna at Jantar Mantar New Delhi earlier scheduled for 15th March, 2017. We also assure you that we will use all the resources and connections of our constituents to clinch the issues at the earliest by further augmenting our interactions with the Ministry and IBA. We are also thankful to UFBU for having taken up the issues of Pensioners and Retirees in their negotiations, Charter of Demands and in their Action Programmes. We are also happy that large number of Retiree Comrades had joined the massive demonstrations organised by UFBU on 28.02.2017 in respect of their demands including the issues of their senior brethren, the Bank Pensioners and Retirees.
 Comrades, we repeat that we have only Deferred our Dharna programme at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi scheduled for 15.03.2017 to seize the opportunity of the positive headway we have made very recently which should result in the resolution of our issues.
With Regards,
Yours Comradely,
A.Ramesh Babu     K.V.Acharya
        Joint Conveners CBPRO
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