Newsletter No. 40 - Thanks for the Support

News Letter –40

Dear Friends,

As we bid farewell to the ASTO tenure of 2005-07 we the unit of ASTO Delhi profusely thank all the members for providing us the opportunity to work for the officer’s community during the last two and half years. The team worked as a cohesive unit bringing complete transparency and ushered in an ASTO that works for the common man. We ushered in an era of total transparency, accountability and public debates on all the issues through GBM’s.

Your team worked with total transparency, openness and did not leave any issue whether individual or general. We had nearly 40 General Body Meetings at various offices of Delhi, brought out 40 news letters and 16 flash news. We started the website www.astodelhi.com which was regularly updated. The system of emailing all the news to all the officers was started and we also responded to the feedback that we would get on our mail. The tenure has seen major ups and downs. It also saw how some of our leaders were thriving on personal gains. Despite major differences cropping up amongst the leaders all of us continued to work for the welfare issues of the people.

Friends, during this tenure ASTO submitted three reports to the management – Job rotation and transfer policy, R&P Policy and Incentive Scheme Review. In all these committees ASTO Delhi was a member from ASTO’s side and played a pivotal role in submission of these reports. All the three reports are available on the website. We all know each and every issue requires lot of groundwork before the management can be convinced to take positive action on them. In number of issues we had to search out various Supreme Court orders or circulars etc. from other PSUs. ASTO Delhi played a pivotal role in all the issues. In fact the role of members of Delhi office is highly appreciated. All the members participated in the dharnas and hunger strikes spontaneously. They gave valuable inputs at the right time for us to clinch the issues. In fact even during the raging crisis of leadership of ASTO – CWC during December 2006, we had not stopped our work and all of you may remember our news update no. 15 dated 7.12.2006 which announced the approval of enhancement of CMRE, vehicle insurance from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 15,000 and issuance of orders for enhancement of spectacles, children education allowance and out of pocket allowance scheme etc. This was the period during which ASTO-CWC leadership was under changeover phase and all the issues were being steered by ASTO Delhi team because of its strategic location in Delhi. In fact the Delhi team not only carried out the spadework but also used to follow up all the EC agendas related to welfare of the officer community till the orders are issued.

Some of the issues like out of pocket allowance, enhancement of Children Education allowance, Profit sharing for the officers sent by ONGC on deputation to other organization in ONGC’s interest, enhancement of medical dependency ceiling, three additional stagnation increments, payment of arrears of profit sharing for past years, E2-E5 pay anomaly etc. were conceptualized by us by providing relevant supreme court orders, circulars of other PSUs and tuition fees chart of various metro cities. In fact enhancement of Lease rates was initially carried out at Delhi and then the same model was followed for other metro cities. For the first time in Delhi office the composite facilities management contract was introduced. It has resulted in improvement of catering and house keeping facilities. However, there is lot of scope for improvement which we are sure shall happen in due course.

During this tenure we took up all the individual issues that were referred to us from all over the country. We did not spare any effort to resolve majority of them.

Friends, as leaders of ASTO Delhi we did not leave our office work. In fact we continued to carry out our official duties in addition to taking up the welfare activities on the ASTO platform.

The establishment of housing society at Indirapuram received an overwhelming response. All the 161 flats have been booked and we have a waiting list of nearly 42 members. We are in the process of tying up with Public Sector Banks like SBI, Indian Bank etc. for preferential treatment. We are getting good response from them. The rate of interest being offered ranges from 9 to 9.5%. Once it is finalized we shall be bringing out the details about the same. The developer is in the process of taking necessary approvals from the concerned authorities which is taking some more time. In the mean time we are to make no other payments till the start of construction.

The orders for the profit sharing payment for the year 2006-07 could not be issued in time and it is now expected to be paid in March, 2008. The orders for other issues like TA/DA enhancement, OTHT for abroad visits etc. that were cleared by EC shall be issued shortly as the minutes for the EC meeting are under finalization. The notification for 50% DA merger is also expected during this week.

The journey of this tenure has seen some failures also – especially on the front of review of corporate level promotions. In fact we are the only unit that has been raising the issue of review of corporate promotions as well as to carry out this exercise annually instead of once in two years. Improvement of living and working conditions is another area where despite our thrust we find that working conditions in offices and operational areas have not seen sufficient improvement. The facilities have improved only upto the floors where Directors and CMD have their offices. Perseverance on these issues shall definitely result in success.

We are going to enter the most challenging phase for ONGC and its employees. The attrition levels are increasing day by day and the physical performance of the company is somehow not able to keep pace with the planning of ONGC. The impending pay revision is going to be a major task for us. A focussed approach by ASTO is necessary on this front.

The elections for the new body for ASTO Delhi shall be announced by today. We wish all the prospective candidates our best wishes.

We have always believed in following philosophy – “All the power of ASTO is bestowed on us by the people and… all the power belongs to the people. Everything we do should be for the people; we must rely on the people in all our endeavors and we owe all our achievements to the people” and so shall we continue to believe in our life.

LONG LIVE ASTO UNITY