Dear Members,

We take this opportunity to inform that as per the decision taken by CHQ after thorough deliberation with Circle Secretaries and Circle Presidents on the issue, AIGETOA has been granted provisional affiliation with BMS. There have been many queries received in this regard from members that what will be the future course of action and the benefits associated with this affiliation for the cadre and BSNL at large.

We wish to inform that AIGETOA’s affiliation with BMS has nothing to do with any political orientation and we as employees and executives of BSNL, are not party to any political agenda and we will never be part to any such agenda in future also.

We further wish to inform that BMS is also categorical in its statement that they are not associated with any political party and BMS ideology is based upon the concept of nationalism which advocates unity and the ideology of BMS do not subscribes to any differentiation based on caste, creed or religion. We as an association of executives also will never ever subscribe to any agenda of any organization which is based on differentiation on the basis of caste, creed or religion. Further contrary to the belief of many that BMS is an organization of unions only, we wish to inform that many big associations in other PSUs like ONGC, various Banks etc have been the affiliates of BMS.

The response on the queries received from members with respect to BMS is as stated below:

• BMS was founded on 23rd July 1955.

• BMS is not affiliated to any Political party.

• BMS extends responsive cooperation whatever may be the composition of the Government i.e whether it is Congress, BJP or any other democratically elected Government.

• Even during the regime of NDA 1 Government, in 2001 April, BMS protested against the economic policies of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Govt in a very vociferous way. Very recently i.e on 17.11.22 the BMS organized a save PSU campaign in Delhi where more than 25000 CPSU workers gathered and protested.

• BMS does not subscribe to caste, creed or religion.

• BMS is the largest central trade union in India whose verification was done by the then UPA government.

• There is no worship of leaders in BMS. Slogans in favor of office bearers is not allowed.

• There is a fixed 2 term norm for all office bearers.

• In State Units the age of office bearers is restricted to 60 years of age.

• No political person is allowed to sit on the Dias. Exception is concerned Minister of the Union or the union Labor minister. Any politician who attends the meetings are received with due care and made to sit in the audience only.

The foundation stone of AIGETOA is firmly laid on the revival, survival and wellbeing of BSNL, Resolution of the long pending HR issues and upliftment of cadre as a whole. Various strategies with respect to achieving these objectives have been exercised by AIGETOA and it is our firm belief that our affiliation with the largest trade union of India i.e. BMS and their guidance on various subjects will definitely give more strength to AIGETOA’s fight to ensure the revival of our beloved company, upliftment of the executive cadre of BSNL and resolution of various pending issues. We request one and all for cooperating and supporting AIGETOA’s endeavors which are solely intended to attain the vary basic objectives of unity in diversity, upliftment of nation, upliftment of company and upliftment of our executive fraternity. AIGETOA shall continue to function as it was functioning earlier with full autonomy on how to resolve the issues including the ways like conducting the meetings and organizational action programs.

AIGETOA firmly and non-ambiguously reiterates that association will never be a party to any political activity nor will it ever subscribe to any differentiation based on caste, creed or religion. All our activities will always remain restricted to the welfare of nation, welfare of our beloved organization BSNL and the resolution of long pending issues pertaining to the executives of BSNL. Let us all move ahead with the feeling of together we can and together we will.

In order to enable all eligible persons to file their applications, EPFO on Tuesday extended the date for filing applications to opt for a higher pension till June 26, 2023. Members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can apply jointly with their employers till the extended deadline, by choosing the option of higher pension (EPFO Higher Pension) on the Unified Members’ portal of the EPFO site.

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BSNL CO issued final list of all eligible associations for 3rd Membership verification to be conducted through secret ballot for electing majority representative association of executive in BSNL.

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We the CHQ team of AIGETOA has met with PGM (CA) and discussed the problems facing by the executives of BSNL while filing the wage data by the authorised signatories under EPFO and also submitted the AIGETOA representation in this regard.

We also requested him to write a letter to EPFO for the extension of the date of filing of the higher pension option on the EPFO portal so that all interested employees can opt in website.

PGM CA assured us that we will take up the issues as discussed and try to resolve the issues in timebound manner.

AIGETOA writes to CMD BSNL for intervention & interaction with respective EPFOs regarding Certification of Past data by various DDOs and final submission.

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The approval / certification process from employer side is being routed to the respective establishment code login which were being used at the time of contribution. In this regard, we have highlighted the following:

• BSNL payroll system was not a centralised package before ERP and HRMS. Different packages were used in various circles for Pay roll.

• Thousands of employees were transferred across BAs/Circles and worked in various sections which are presently non-existent. Like Merged BAs/ QA, T&D, inspection, Civil, electrical, centralised mobile sections, etc.

• Even the EPFO also was not maintaining centralised EPF accounts before the introduction of UAN. Thus, thousands of BSNL employee’s data approval with the employer got struck despite submission of the online options by the employees on EPF portal.

• As per ground reports, negligible Application have been approved owing to the non-availability of data and confusion over the responsibility of DDOs in the absence of service books at the officers where the verification of the past accounts have been routed. Many applications have been rejected from the login itself.

• Wage data is being asked from the employees and the staff working in field have little or no knowledge of the process and neither they are getting any support on this process.

• The internal directions and circular issued by EPFO are making confusion among the concerned accounts wing team too. When the service Book of each employee are with the latest establishment code in BSNL (respective Circles) where the employees is presently posted. The certification for each employee is also being done by the present Circle level DDO. EPFO needs to be informed about this as previous accounts are being sent to the earlier DDOs.

• An Employee cannot be held responsible for non-keeping of centralised payroll by Employer and Centralised PF account system by EPFO in the past. Neither did the employee has been informed about the EPF contributions in the past which was a mandatory exercise by employer.

• A major issue at Employer part (in the login of AO-Cash) is validation of data while uploading Wage data of employee in TXT file. Several checks are being done at this level, which are not disclosed to employer resulting error(s) in uploading the file.

• The requirement of applying exclusively online, is discriminatory and prevents large sections of employees who are not familiar with the procedures from exercising their option. This was pointed out by CBT Members several times. Besides, the online system of the EPFO suffers from major connectivity, issues and the sites are not responsive maximum of the times.