NFAEE is the one and only all India Federation of Atomic Energy Worker, recognised by Government of india/Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

It represents the Industrial, Research & Development and Service organisations under Department of Atomic Energy.

26 Unions and associations of DAE Employees recognised under CCS (RSA) Rule are affiliated with NFAEE

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

KEY NOTE ADDRESS - ALL INIDA CONVNETION OF DAE - NPCIL - AIDED INSTITUTIONS


National Federation of Atomic Energy Employees

NFAEE

DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY
Regn.No.17/9615
Recognised by DAE vide DAE OM No. 8/1/2007 – IR&W/95 dated 13th June 2007
NFAEE OFFICE, Opp: NIYAMAK BHAVAN, Anusaktinagar, Mumbai 400 094
Web site: www.nfaeehq.blogspot.com; Email address: nfaee@yahoo.com


ALL INDIA CONVENTION OF DAE – NPCIL – AIDED INSTITUTION EMPLOYEES/WORKERS

29th June 2013, Multi purpose Hall, 
BARC Training School Hostel, Mumbai.
29th June 2013


Dear Comrades,

At the out set on behalf of the Secretariat of National Federation of Atomic Energy (NFAEE) and the presidium of this convention I warmly welcome all participants of the All India Convention of Employees/Workers of DAE establishments – NPCIL – Aided Institutions.

After a long gap pf more than 10 years this type of an All India Convention of all sectors under Department of Atomic Energy is being organized and for that warm support has been received from all sectors. It is proudly can announce that this convention is attending all sector as well as all section of employees and hope this will be great step for the furtherance of united movement of DAE Employees.

As a part of this All India Convention We have conducted a 6 sessions of various categories of employees, viz a viz meetings of work assistants, auxiliary staff, technical staff, scientific assistants, administrative, accounts, purchase & store staff & round the clock shift staff on 28th June 2013 at three places. It was great success and hundreds of employees were participated and debated on issues thread bare. The findings of those sessions are going to present here in this convention in the afternoon session, I am not going to elaborating those issues discussed in the meting held yesterday.

Since this Convention covers employees & workers of DAE establishments, NPCIL and its Power Stations, Aided Institutions we would like to present a note on general issues pertaining to those categories and will debate.

Some of the points came for discussion at various forums pertaining to the General Issues of DAE Employees are given below:
                                                                                                          
·         It is pertinent to note here that the Department of Atomic Energy has been exempted from various general guidelines issued to other conventional departments, such as in matters of financial power, recruitment and promotion policies, exemption from CPWD for construction etc. Even then it is seen that DAE is competing with other Departments for implementing recommendations of various guidelines of the government to curtail the facilities available to its employees. To continue the special status in all respects to DAE this had been considered as a scientific department and given a special status in comparison with other conventional departments.

·         Systematic downsizing of the work force & outsourcing of all types of work includes, operational & maintenance works of nuclear installations are carrying out by the Department. Denial of adequate man power for operational as well maintenance of nuclear installations result undue delay of progress of activities as well as inviting undue incidences unnecessarily.  

·          In a bid to intensify the downsizing, privatization and out sourcing of the Departmental activities, the Department has adopted the policies of the Central Government of ban on recruitment and abolition of posts. Some of the units have gone to the extent of handing over various operational activities to contract and engaging contract labour for operation, maintenance, supervision, design, and even for execution by appointing helpers, operators, technicians, scientific assistants, draftsman, and even scientific officers on contract. Apart from these the Department is trying to their level best to out source various activities such as transportation, canteen, security service, cleaning, sweeping, etc by handing over the same to private contractors. It is pertinent to note here that one way department is being privatized the security system, on the other hand Government alerts, on every occasion, about the security threat from the militants and other reactionary forces and that the first target always are nuclear installations.

·         By compromising man power and introduction of contractorisation and privatization at various levels, compromising in safety becomes routine. Various guidelines from International agencies, AERB norms, BARC Safety guidelines, other statutory directives etc are being violated by entrusting the related activities to casual labourers or workers on contract. It is very much essential to retain all type of work in nuclear installations under regular job scheme and recruit the sufficient staff in O&M as well as other categories also to ensure the implementation of nuclear programme in time.

·         Curtailments of the facilities including social security benefits extended to the employees are also become agenda for the authorities.  Denial and delaying of the promotional avenues, partiality approach on APAR grading, delaying the cadre restructuring, etc are the rule of the day in all DAE units irrespective of the sector for all section of employees such as technical, administration, auxiliary, purchase & stores and violation of safety norms etc are some of the examples of the adverse impact of these policies on the employees in our department.

·         Due to the historical reasons, our nuclear installations are placed at isolated places and thus the common facilities such as public transport systems, canteens, hotels, etc are not reachable to the employees of DAE where other convention departments the employees are having multiple choices for all those facilities. Thus the out sourcing of Canteen, transportation, etc effects adversely to the employees.

·         Dr. Homi Bhabha, the father of Indian Nuclear Science himself had initiated the proposal of our own Contributory Health Services Scheme (CHSS) and introduced the same for the benefit of the employees as well as their families because of the gravity of the health hazards and related issue keep in mind. But, when the Health Ministry and Finance Ministry initiated steps to replace the Central Government Health Scheme with Medical Insurance Scheme, our administrative authorities, to get applause from their bosses at Delhi, without considering the back ground to the introduction of the CHSS, initiated steps to privatize our CHSS through medical insurance scheme. Because of the timely intervention of the employees from all sections, the Department was forced to shelve the proposal for privatization of CHSS at least for time being. But the threat is always there, and any time the authorities may come out with new tricks. Now as the department could not go for outsourcing the medical system fully, indirectly trying to downgrade the medical facilities. The complaints on negligence or proper treatment are coming very often. In the recent past two fatal cases were reported from BARC Hospital. There are number other false reports on X ray and other test. Playing with the life of employees are cruel one and this is a very important issue for concern. 

·         Another area of concern, in general, is the restriction introduced by the Department on compassionate ground appointment. In the Public Sector Units (PSUs) like NPCIL and IREL the Department has introduced ‘one time financial aid’ to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs to the dependents of deceased employees in lieu of compassionate appointments. Most of the time, these amounts were not sufficient to settle the dues of deceased employees who have Housing Loan and other loans from the Co-operative Societies or other Banks. By introducing the cap of 5% restriction on compassionate ground appointments, most of the genuine cases were got rejected or are pending years together without any decision for want of the vacant posts. Dependents of the deceased employees of smaller units are the worst affected by not getting compassionate ground appointments.

·         The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and BARC Safety Council are the nodal agencies to scrutinize, supervise and guide the units of DAE on Safety norms. Since both AERB as well as BARC Safety Council are part & parcel of the Department, there are always doubts arising in the findings of these agencies whenever dispute arise on Safety related issues.  To avoid these fears of doubt it is better to keep these agencies out of the direct control of the DAE. To bring develop transparency of the activities it is essential in the present scenario of the misinformation spreading through various agencies, media, etc. It is pertinent to note here that since its inception of All India Atomic Energy Employees Co ordination Committee (AIAEECOC) in seventies, one of the demand raised in its first conference to make AERB an independent forum. With proud we can declare that it is the work force of DAE was demanded first to convert AERB independent and now the government also agreed in principle to do so. Further delay to declare AREB and BARC Safety Council will bring doubt on various issue related Nuclear Energy in the mind of general public. It is very much required to bring confidence among the public as well.

·         The employees of all DAE units irrespective of the Sector they belong are at risk of being exposed to various hazards such as radiation exposure, chemical hazards, excessive heat (or high temperature?) and so on. To  compensate such risks to  the employees, those who are working in those conditions of risks shall be given Radiation/Hazardous/Risk allowance etc. and shall be provided with protein diet at subsidized rate.

·         Extension of the service after the retirement has become an insult to the serving and deserving senior officers of today. The situation is leading to such a situation that the projects, R&D works etc are being delayed to ensure extension. This convention does not subscribe to the opinion to utilize the service of the scientists, technocrats or any other expertise hands after superannuation by giving extension to them. Their services very well can be sought as when required. But by giving extension, the morale of the deserving junior officers is being  diminished to such a level that the activities of the Department as whole are adversely affected on certain occasions.

·         In the recent past it is observed in DAE that the tendencies to deviate from all democratic norms are increasing. These occur in the day to day functions of the department in various areas such as the interviews for promotions, ensuring working atmosphere for employees, approach in various redressal forums including various JCM fora, JCC, bilateral discussions, victimization of association activists, denial of facilities to the recognized unions and associations etc.

·         Since 2005, throughout the country, deliberations on Indo – US Nuclear deal have started. Various political parties, organizations, intellectuals, former scientists and technocrats have expressed their views through media, seminars and various other agencies. Even after the deal was put on paper and the Nuclear Liability Bill adopted by the Parliament, it is unfortunate to note that, the senior working scientists, technocrats, representatives of the recognized unions and associations have not been taken into confidence on the issue and no attempt has been made by the Department to assess the gravity   of the issue by initiating debate among the policy makers among the department, senior scientists and technocrats, representatives the recognized organizations etc. Department also never took initiative to take the help of serving employees in this department for open debate by making the fully equipped.  We strongly feel that scientists and technocrats of this department are the pillars the Department and hence it is very much necessary to allow them to express their views and participate in open debate and ensure the future of the nuclear energy bright. More over to ensure the indigenous Nuclear Programme vision by none other than the father of Indian Nuclear Programme in reality and to ensure the continuity of Research and Development in the Nuclear energy, our sovereignty should not be surrendered. In the present scenario, it is very much necessary to keep all nuclear installation under the government set up.

·         The Call given by the Confederation of CG Employees & Workers for demanding settlement on a 15 Point Common Charter of Demands of CG Employees which includes stop price rise and strengthen PDS, stop downsizing, outsourcing, contractorisation, corporatisation and privatization of Governmental functions, fill up all vacant posts and create posts on functional requirements, scrap the New Pension scheme and extend the statutory defined benefit pension to all Central Government Employees irrespective of date of recruitment, casual contingent and daily rated workers by bringing about a definite scheme of regularization, remove restriction imposed on compassionate appointments, make right to strike a legal right and stop victimizations and curtailment of trade union rights, the immediate constitution of 7th CPC for the revision of wages with effect from 1.1.2011 i.e., once in five  years on par with the Public Sector undertakings and Merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay including GDS, five promotions, etc. are concern of all DAE employees irrespective of which section they belongs. Hence all DAE employees should join with the main stream of the Central Government Employees

Dear Comrades,

These are the some of the common issues seen over the years placed here for your consideration. During the discussion, all participants are requested to come foreword with their views, suggestions on issues referred above as well as to add more issues, if any to be added.

Also it is more important to decide how we should move ahead to campaign among the employees to popularize the demands, to approach the Department and Government, and finally if necessary to go for a joint movement of DAE employees.

                   With fraternal Greetings

Jayaraj KV
Secretary General

Address for Correspondence: Jayaraj. KV, Secretary General, NFAEE
PESS/UED; BARC, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085
Tel. No: (O): 022 – 25596519; (Res): 022 – 2746 4704; (Mobile): 9869501189



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