Letter to SAIL Chairman

Letter to Chairman in FORSE Letter Pad

SPEEDPOST Forse/Ch/0314 June 27, 2014 To Sri C.S. Verma, Chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd. Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road, NEW DELHI-110003.           Sub: Request for Appointment for a Meeting with you Ref: Our letterNos. Forse/Ch/0114 dated 18th March and Forse/Ch/0214 dated May 26, 2014 Dear Sir, Please refer to our above letters in which we explained the woes of and issues concerning the Retired Employees of SAIL and explained the need of a Meeting with you as we feel that SAIL need to do more for its Retirees. Perhaps communication channels are getting clogged due to various reasons and our pathetic stories are not reaching your ears in proper format. Hence we are pursuing this new path of establishing fresh channels as a collective. Since the DPE OMs mentioned in our earlier letters originated on the persuasion and hard work done by SCOPE we feel that now being the Chairman of both SCOPE and SAIL you will initiate fresh action with renewed effort to help the retired Employees of SAIL who are in dire need of your sympathetic considerations. We request you to please fix a date and time as per your convenience ( with 7-10 days of advance intimation to us) for a meeting with us to give you first hand account of the condition of Early Retirees and help you in finding solution. With regards, Yours sincerely, (V.N.Sharma)

Chairman

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SPEEDPOST

No. Forse/Ch/0214

May 26, 2014

To
Sri C.S. Verma,
Chairman,
Steel Authority of India Ltd.
Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road,
NEW DELHI-110003.

        Sub: Appointment for a Meeting with you

 Ref: Our letter No. Forse/Ch/0114 dated March 18, 2014 and SAIL’s letter Nos.PER/Coordn/Grievance/14/04/7 and PER/Coordn/ Grievance /14/05/8 dated 3^rd May and 8^th May 2014 (copies enclosed)

Dear Sir,

Please refer to our above letter seeking appointment with you to discuss the issues concerning retired employees of SAIL, most of whom are in their twilight years. We are sorry to point out that it was not even acknowledged, not to talk of granting appointment for the meeting. In the meantime, we are in receipt of two letters from SAIL which were replied against our Appeal to the President of India via CPGRAMS. We fail to understand the reason for the indiscrete silence of SAIL on our communication.

1.   We would like to convey that SAIL has repeatedly been harping, including in the letter dated 3rd and 9th May 2014, on the prevailing retirement benefits given to its retired employees. No body knows this better than us because we are the beneficiaries of advantages/disadvantages of the existing schemes whereas the current set of Managers and employees look at it only on paper.

2.   Sir, I would like to draw your kind attention to the fact and make it clear that our problem is not the existing schemes but the explicit opposition of SAIL to the schemes to be formulated for ‘creation of a corpus for retired employees of SAIL with 1.5% of the PBT’ under the DPE advice vide their various OMs including those dated 08th July 2009 and 20th July 2011. I must reiterate that the OMs of DPE were formulated after a lot of consultation between various Ministries, SCOPE and CPSEs on the ever deteriorating condition of the retired employees, most of whom were from the pioneering batches of the CPSEs, due to continuous price rise, higher expenses on health care etc. These OMs must be construed as the commitment of the Govt. Of India towards the builder of modern India, the output of whose hard work in the then prevailing difficult conditions are enjoyed today by the current set of employees as well as the people of this country. I would like to mention that Late Dr. P.L. Agrawal, one of the early Chairman of SAIL has already revealed his anguish on the ever deteriorating Steel Man’s quality of life in his book ‘Journey of A Steel Man’ (p. 29).

3.   It would not be out of place to mention that other CPSEs like Oil sector companies, BHEL etc were all giving similar or better retirement benefits to their employees in the past as SAIL was giving but in spite of that they have implemented the DPE OMs with more than 1.5% of the PBT for their retired employees. We may like to put it on record that by not doing the same SAIL will ultimately be considered and listed as a bad employer by the past, present and future employees which will only ensure a downward journey for the Company in future.

4.   Sir, before we close this letter we would like to bring to your kind notice the extremely negative terms and conditions of the Mediclaim policy under the agreement between SAIL and Insurance company, like the low amount of coverage for both OPD and hospitalisation, and various tests, list of Cappings, important exclusions etc, compounded by the inefficient operation of the policy by the TPA in terms of I-cards not issued even after 5 months, delayed approval and payment of Bills by months and indifference of SAIL’s offices responsible to manage, co-ordinate and supervise the Mediclaim scheme, leaves nothing for SAIL to boast of its Healthcare mechanism for the retired employees.

In view of the above and also that communication channels between retired employees and SAIL management is getting clogged due to SAIL being a big Company I, on behalf of the Federation and its members, request you to kindly take some time out as per your convenience and seriously consider giving us appointment to explain our condition and the urgent need for formulating schemes to take care of our needs and improvement in the Mediclaim policy/ Healthcare schemes. It would not be out of place to say that a good number of us are in our twilight years and we are not left with sufficient time to wait and watch for the policy formulation and implementation with ease.

With regards,

Yours faithfully,

 (V.N.Sharma) 

Encl: xerox copies of 3 letters

SPEEDPOST

No. Forse/Ch/0114

March 18, 2014

To
Sri C.S. Verma,
Chairman,
Steel Authority of India Ltd.
Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road,
NEW DELHI-110003.

       Sub: Introducing ourselves and seeking appointment for a Meeting

Dear Sir,

I would like to draw your kind attention to the fact that in a meeting held on 1st & 2nd March 2014 at Rourkela, it was resolved to form a Federation of Retired SAIL Employees, an Apex Body of all the Associations of Retired Employees of SAIL, plants and units with its registered office at Rourkela (copy enclosed). The formalities for its registration are getting completed. 

During the discussion, the representatives of the Member Associations expressed the miserable condition of a large number of ea rly retirees who are in extremely difficult physical and financial conditions in their twilight years. Also came into the discussion the SAIL Mediclaim policy with large number of capping, repudiation of bonafide claims and its inept handling of Insurance company and TPA in implementation. 

In view of this we request you to kindly give us some time, as per your convenience, for a meeting with you to discuss the issues concerning the Retired SAIL Employees and the ways to help them to ensure an honourable survival. 

We propose a broad Agenda for the meeting as (i) post-Retirement Benefits, (ii) improvement in SAIL Medical facility/ SAIL Mediclaim Policy and its operational procedures and (iii) considering the Retired Employees as a part of SAIL Family and making their life more meaningful as senior citizen. These will be detailed after getting the date from you.

With regards,

Yours faithfully,

 (V.N.Sharma) 

Encl: xerox copy of the Resolution (3 pages)