Updates on EPF Higher Pension Option:

Updates on EPF Higher Pension Option:

Shri Veerabhadra Rao AIP AIGETOA, Shri Ravi Shil Verma AIC AIGETOA met PGM (CA), BSNL CO in the morning hour itself and apprised him about the latest developments on the EPF Higher pension issue. We apprised him about the latest circular of EPFO which mandates receipt of joint undertaking Form 26(6) from employee and employer. We requested him to issue the directions to circle in this regard and also instruct them to furnish a copy to the employee who can further submit the same at EPFO Portal. PGM CA appreciated the concern and immediately directed his team to issue the instructions by today itself.

Certificate under Para 26(6) for exercising option for higher pension under EPF in ESS Portal :

BSNL CO issued instructions to all circle heads regarding furnishing of the certificate under Para 26(6) for exercising option for higher pension under EPF.

Click here for letter

The process of certificate generation is as below :

Employees who were members of EPF before 01.09.2014 and are presently working:

The certificate shall be auto generated by the employee himself/herself through ESS login of the employees using TAB” EPFO Certificate”.

For Employees retired before 01.09.2014 & For Employees who were members of EPF before 01.09.2014 and retired on or after 01.09.2014:

In order to facilitate timely settlement of higher pension cases, any DDOs i.e. The SSA Payadmins or Circle Payadmins may generate the Certificates in SAP using T Code “ZHR_EPFP_CERTIFICATE” and inputting the pernr of the retired employee whose certificate is required to be generated. The retired employee may get the same from nearest BSNL office.

Updates on 12th BSNL Sports Cultural Board Meeting held on 19th April 2023 at BSNL CO :

Sports Board meeting was held on 19th April 2023 by BSNL. The meeting was attended by the Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh, CS Uttarakhand on behalf of AIGETOA. General Secretary of AIGETOA Shri Pavan Akhand is the board member of the sports board as GS of the only Recognized Representative Association of BSNL. The meeting started with the Welcome of Director HR Shri Arvind Vadnerkar, the vice chairman of BSNL Sports and Cultural Board. Thereafter, the welcome speech was given by GM Admin Shri S P Singh who welcomed all the participants of the meeting.

The meeting started with a brief introduction of all the participants of Association/Union and the members of different Circle boards across the country.

The meeting started with review of the minutes of last sports board meeting and their implementation along with presentation of the audited accounts from last board meeting till date.

All the points which were taken by the AIGETOA was appreciated by the management side and most of them were agreed and resolved in the meeting itself. The agenda points were submitted well in advance by AIGETOA and accordingly, a detailed and informed deliberation took place on all the points. Such serious discussion on issues related to sports and sports person has not taken place for years and after raising the issue by AIGETOA in the last agenda meeting on February, this meeting has finally been convened.

The point wise discussion of agenda is as below :

1] The Team participating in the national/national level tournament must be accompanied by the manager and coach :

The panel of coach for the year 2023-25 is already called by the BSNL CO and another person will mandatory accompany the team as manager. This was categorically agreed by management.

2] Issue of letter for participation in National/National level tournament well in time :

Agreed by the management side. They will issue the order for participation well in time.

3] For Recruitment of sports person in backlog vacancies :

Director HR said that the recruitment is not possible as of now but will resume when financial condition of BSNL Improves.

4] Many times services of Sports person/ Technical delegate/Coach/Manager are called by various sports federation for rendering their service in various National/International Tournaments, in all such cases permission must be given well in advance as per the existing DOPT guidelines :

Management assures to look after all these cases and will issue the order well in time.

5] It is seen some times that the specific sports guideline is not available with us, so in all such cases DOPT on sports must be followed in true spirit :

Management side told that if any guidelines or a particular case is there, the same may be brought to the notice of management and they will try to implement all such DoPT orders in BSNL.

6] In the Composition of Circle Sports and cultural Board the inclusion of member from recognized representative association is missing. Kindly make changes and inclusion in the composition of Circle Sports and cultural Board :

Management agreed to include the name and necessary instructions shall be passed down the line.

7] The Norms for sanction of sports Grants for AIBSNL Tournaments must be revised. The revision in rates of items is required :

Agreed by the management and revised rates as decided in the meeting will reflect in MoM.

The detailed discussion also took place on the new sports compendium, TA/DA, KIT money, of the sports person, rules, regulations and team nomenclature as per the updated federation guidelines, changes in the instrument categories in Cultural activities. Suggestion was given by the association to keep the new compendium in abeyance till modification takes place after having the detailed discussion and feed back from the recognized association. Director HR however stated that since the new compendium is approved by the competent authority, it will not be prudent to keep it in abeyance but it was agreed for review of the sports compendium, TA DA rates KIT money after taking members in review committee and feedback from association.

Director HR also agreed for the promotion of sports recruited person to the level of executive after getting medals at international level.

It was also assured by the Director HR that this year sports meet will be conducted well in time.

Vote of thanks was given by Jt. GM Shri Mayank Mishra. A momento was also presented to all the participants of the sports board meeting by Director HR. The meeting ended with a group photograph.

The revised rates as per point 7 is as below:

  • Light refreshment = Rs 24 to Rs 50.
  • Mementos = Rs 240 to Rs 300.
  • Trophies = Rs 24000 to Rs 30000.
  • Break fast = Rs 75 to Rs 100.
  • Lunch = Rs 150.
  • Miscellaneous = Rs 30000 to Rs 40000.

Updation of Educational Qualifications of SDE Electrical in ERP Data as per RRs of BSNL Management Services in Electrical stream (MSRRs – Electrical 2023)

BSNL CO writes to all PCEs/Sr. CEs/CEs Electrical for updation of educational qualifications of SDE Electrical in ERP Data as per Recruitment Rules of BSNL Management Services in Electrical stream (MSRRs – Electrical 2023).

Click here for Covering Letter

List of the SDE Electrical with Educational qualifications as on 19.04.2023.

Click here for List

Furnishing of Certificate under para 26(6) for Higher Pension under EPF Retired before/after 01.09.2014 dtd 19.04.2023

In line with the suggestions of AIGETOA in the online meeting which was represented by Shri Ansal Mohmmad who is one of the pioneers in the EPF case along with Shri Saheer and other AIGETOA Kerala members and subsequently conveyed by our letter dated 17th April 2023, CA section of BSNL CO has issued guidelines to Circles for issuance of Joint Undertaking and a certificate in lieu of PARA 26(6) OF EPF Scheme WHICH HAS TO BE USED BY the employees of BSNL while opting higher pension in EPFO website. BSNL is stating that deductions have been made and deposited on full Basic and DA to EPFO. This will ensure that willing persons can fill up the higher pension option at EPFO Portal.

Earlier AIGETOA CHQ Team and BSNL Officials also visited EPFO and held discussions on the methodology to be adopted. Thereafter this letter has been issued by BSNL CO to circles.

This has come out in persuasion to KERALA HIGH COURT JUDGEMENT DATED 12th April 2023 wherein AIGETOA is a petitioner and is result of continuous persuasion by Team AIGETOA with management and concerned section.

We are thankful to BSNL Management and PGM CA for taking necessary action in timely manner in the interest of BSNL executives.

Click here for letter by BSNL to all circles and format of the certificate to be furnished for Employees Retired on or after 01.09.2014

Click here for letter by BSNL to all circles and format of the certificate to be furnished for Employees Retired before 01.09.2014

Click here for the letter by AIGETOA

Revised Guidelines – Policy for Allotment of Residential Accommodation to Unions & Associations :

BSNL CO issues revised guidelines wrt policy for allotment of residential accommodation to Unions and Associations. AIGETOA had earlier vociferously resisted charging on CROP rates for unions and associations and instead that the payment should be on license fee basis. Finally Management accepted our demand and issued revised guidelines in this regard.

Click here for the letter by BSNL

Click here for letter submitted by AIGETOA

Meeting of Team AIGETOA CHQ with General Secretary BMS at their National Headquarters, New Delhi :

Today Team AIGETOA comprising of Sh Pavan Akhand GS, Sh Veerbhadra Rao AIP, Sh Ravi Shil Verma AIC, Sh Amit Roy JS North, and Sh Sunil Gautam AGS met Shri Ravindra Himte Ji General Secretary BMS at their national headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi. Shri R C Pandey, GS BTEU, Shri Sanjay Tyagi FS, TOA and Shri Manoj, AGS BTEU were also present in the meeting. The team discussed about various issues related to BSNL including a brief discussion on the pending HR issues and 3rd PRC to BSNL Executives. We exchanged our views on the upliftment of BSNL as well as growth of basic cadre of JTO & equivalent. He appreciated our vision and assured all out support of BMS to AIGETOA for all BSNL related issues and for ensuring the resolution of our long pending HR issues and for highlighting and precipitating the same at appropriate platforms.

Team Further met Dr Deependra Chahar, Secretary of the BMS state Chapter Delhi and had discussions on the vision and mission of BMS and how they are promoting the young generation to fight for their rights. He assured his firm support on the endeavors being taken by AIGETOA for the betterment of cadre and BSNL. He stated firmly that BMS Delhi will extend its full cooperation to AIGETOA for the resolution of issues pertaining to BSNL employees.

It will be worth mentioning that with firm support of BMS, AIGETOA’s efforts to resolve the pending HR issues including the Pay and Pension related issues will definitely get a big impetus.

Click here for Glimpses of Meeting

Rejection of High Premium Quotes by Unions/Associations – Letter to BSNL Management :

The existing GHI (Group Health Insurance by M/s Oriental Insurance Company) period will expire on 30th April 2023. Quotes for renewal for the period 01.05.2023 to 30.04.2024 by M/s Oriental Insurance Company are extremely high. Multiple deliberations & negotiations meetings held among the Unions/Associations, BSNL Management & M/s Oriental Insurance on the premium quotes but Oriental Insurance spurn to lower the quoted premium.

In view above, the Recognised Unions and Associations, viz., BSNLEU, NFTE, AIGETOA, SNEA, wrote to the Director HR..

1] Rejecting the premium rates offered by the Oriental Insurance Company.

2] Requested to call for fresh quotations immediately from open market on war footing basis to avoid any more delay.

3] Requested to instruct all Circles/BA’s to ensure empanelment of hospitals on cashless basis so that employees may not suffer and may use the existing policy as and when required.

Click here for the letter