United struggle is the only alternative :

We are within the mass. If we think for the mass in general, our individual problems will automatically be solved.

Bruhaspati Samal

Secretary, AIPEU, Gr.-C

 Bhubaneswar Divisional Branch

Dear Comrades,

Do you have any satisfactory answer to my following question?

Very  simple.

How much time a fraternal attitude will take to reach Odisha from Kerala?

Confused ?

Perhaps you could not follow exactly what I mean to say.

Let me explain.

Most of us might have gone through the news titled “Postal unions to stage protest” published in  the New Indian Express on September 7, 2011 which says that the postal unions of the Kerala Central Postal Region will come together to voice the grievances of the postal employees and officials of the region.

As published, the members of National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE), Federation of National Postal Organization (FNPO), Postal Officers Association and the Association of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents will stage a protest in front of the Regional Postmaster General Office in Kochi as  a reaction to various actions and comments of the Regional PMG viz.  his initiative to stop Speed-Post services in rural post offices, his plan to close down several post offices stating irrelevant reasons, his disrespectful behaviour towards other employees and  the lapses in conducting maintenance work at various post offices which has lead to problems ranging from leaking ceilings to electric shocks there.

What a movement and what an attitude really !

No difference in wings!

No difference in cadres !

Bravo !

Isn’t it possible in Odisha Circle ? – A question comes to my mind.

If yes, why then we have not yet united so far adopting a common agenda for the welfare of all the postal employees of Odisha Circle  in general?

What may be the probable reasons ?

-       Is it egocentric ?

-       Do the NFPE members feel that they are the strongest since large in number and can do anything without any other’s cooperation ?

-       Do the FNPO members think that their problems are negligible since they are very few in number ?

-       Is the cadre feeling coming in the way of the Officers, Inspectors and ASPOs to join hands with the Group-C, Postman and Group-D employees ?

If the answer is “No”, then I can say perhaps we have no problems at all in Odisha Circle which might invite all of us irrespective of cadre and wing to gather under one umbrella for a common cause.

Then, let’s have a look at the Circle Office first where the Circle Head sits. The lift is not functioning for months together. The MTS, the PAs, the Inspectors, the ASPOs, the ADs , the ladies , the gents all are suffering. Can’t we imagine the plight of a lady employee, a handicapped employee, employees having knee, heart and other problems in climbing to the 5^th floor regularly ? Why then we have not yet raised a single exemplary voice for immediate repairing / replacement of the lift ?

Let’s go to Bhubaneswar GPO. The Air Conditioners are not functioning since years together. The ex-Chief PMG was of the view that if the income-cost calculation of Bhubaneswar GPO would show profit, then installation A Cs might be considered. Did it sound well to our beloved leaders who were sitting in the four-monthly meeting ?

Now question arises - If Bhubaneswar GPO is not earning, then where does money come for installation of A Cs in several other chambers of Odisha Circle.

Too unfortunate really !

No such  question was raised .

And what to say about the civil and electrical maintenance works going on in Odisha circle! The conditions of all the three postal colonies in the capital city of Bhubaneswar beggar description. After allotment of a quarters, one has to run from pillar to post and to write one and all for connection of water / electricity, white-washing, minor repairing, sewerage clearance etc. and thus while fail to occupy it in right time on one hand, the administration without considering any aspect immediately started deducting the HRA on the other giving unnecessary financial burdens to the staff members which has been a regular feature. One should not talk about the sewerage system, the environmental cleanliness etc. of these colonies. A few days back, in this blog we had published some clips of Unit – IV Postal Colony filled with weeds and grasses providing heavenly shelter for breeding of dengue mosquitoes for which one of our comrades was diagnosed to be dengue infected and finally admitted to the Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar.

 The contractor was arrested for using duplicate materials while undertaking civil work in Nimapara MDG. Bills have been sanctioned against civil works done in Sahidnagar MDG which are not completed as per Abstract of Original Estimate. Similar is the condition of low quality civil maintenance work of Divisional Office, Bhubaneswar. The allegations made in this regard are awaiting disposal.

A cash van is conveying crores of rupees daily without police escort in the capital city of Bhubaneswar and in presence and knowledge of the higher officers. No tangible attention is being paid towards such a sensitive issue which involves a higher risk factor involving Group-C, Postman and GDS employees.

 While this is the situation in the Circle Headquarters itself, what to speak of other areas.

The suffering of Postmasters in their dilapidated post attached quarters with below schedule of accommodation throughout the circle always fall in the deaf ears of the administration for dequarterization. Officials entitled for Type-III quarters are forced to occupy Type-I in the name of post attached quarters. Why such injustice ?

I am sorry to say that most of us have never witnessed the conditions of rural post offices functioning in small thached houses without any ventilation, electricity, standard furniture and even without basic amenities of urinal / latrine / drinking water. Isn’t the person working there   an employee of India Post like an employee working in a Project Arrow PO? Why such discrimination then ? 

To ensure cent per cent delivery, the delivery staff of Project Arrow Offices are instructed to move in their beats till late hours  and the thus the normal  working hours from 9 AM to 5 PM or 10AM to 6PM has been a myth . OTA, claimed if any, is not being sanctioned either for misinterpretation of the existing OTA rules or on grounds of non-justification. SPMs / Postmasters have no other option but to work till late hours. Contradictorily, if there is system failure, the plight is doubled. The Postmasters have to forget his other social / family obligations. While loading of approved anti-virus, attending to Server problems , repairing / replacement of damaged UPS  and defective nodes, rectification of several errors arising out of broad band connection  / system configuration / patch files etc. are not being handled promptly, failure to submit data / reports are viewed seriously. How long it will continue ?

And what about the so called System Administrator who has a major contribution without any extra benefit for today’s computerization of India Post  ? On one side, there are the innumerable problems of the Post Offices and on the other the unavoidable instructions of the administration. What will be done ? He can’t see his colleague suffering in the post office. On the other, he has no patience to continue further after continuous labour of 10 to 12 hours with no fixed time for going out of his residence and coming back and even to take his breakfast / lunch. He becomes confused to receive a telephone call   to attend her sick child immediately while attending a problem in late hours with a disturbed mood. How embarrassing really ! He is almost squeezed – Almost a sandwich! Who will understand such problems ? The number of System Administrators is not adequate in comparison to the number of computerized offices and problems arising. The present set of employees of India Post with half manual and half computerized practices are the worst sufferers. I have experienced. My System Administrator is sitting with me till 10.30 O’ clock in the night to set right the problems. Can anyone deny ?

Not a single post office in Odisha Circle is having up-dated Postal Manuals / P O Guides. Printing and supply of  literatures / brochures / leaf-lets etc. on P L I , S B / S Cs , Speed Post and other premium products for wide circulation amongst the customers for effective motivation has been remained only  in pen and paper. But while framing charge-sheet, manuals / volumes will be followed strictly by the administration.

Even though there is a Printing Press, most of the essential forms are being printed outside. There is no second opinion that supply of adequate forms to SOs is quite improper and has not yet been streamlined. While the administration gives higher targets for procurement of PLI /RPLI business, we have failed to supply even adequate number of PLI / RPLI receipt books. I have witnessed the fact during my period as Dy. Manager, PSD, Bhubaneswar. Most of the forms indented by Post Offices are not available in P S D. The administration is quite aware of the fact.  But nothing is being done. Don’t you feel that the system needs to be changed?

Being a regular reader of various blogs now managed by several Divisional / Circle / General Secretaries of various unions / associations  in our Department , I am in touch with the real problems of other cadres also. Illustratively, in his posting dated 07.09.2011 titled ”Back to Square One”, the Circle Secretary, AIAIASP, Odisha Circle in his blog writes “The present Secretary (Posts) must be credited with (another achievement of) befooling this cadre through out her tenure without considering a single demand of this Association ----------. When she retires in October this year she will have the last laugh that  while every work from this poor cadre was extracted to the maximum extent so that she could walk away with a number of awards for the Department she did not have to yield anything to this cadre.” This clearly expresses that the IP/ASP cadre is also suffering a lot and there are several other problems apart from the Grade Pay and cadre merger issues. In my experience, the IPs/ASPs are no more confined to their prescribed duties for which they have been recruited. An Inspector / ASP can’t tell confidently that today he will sit on his own seat and work as per his requirements. They are being utilized in several other purposes as the teachers are being used by the State Govt. There the teaching is badly affected creating an imbalanced society and here the inspections leading to increasing frauds and malpractices. In spite of serious exploitations through out, the differences in inter circle opinions perhaps, in my observation stands in the way of taking a unanimous decision which was witnessed during the last proposed Indefinite Strike commencing 5^th July, 2011. A crying in the wilderness.

I have personally experienced the situations which compelled one of our best officers to seek voluntary retirement. According to him, he did not find a healthy atmosphere to work. A person quite cautious of his self-prestige can’t work in the present environment. The degree of misbehavior to him at the fag end of his service was quite intolerable. Better death than dishonor. The incident proves that the officers are not also cordially behaved  by their higher authorities in Odisha Circle. One thing I want to say here that the concept of globalization treats everyone in an organization  a labourer. Still then, I don’t understand what has made us so inactive to react for the sake of our swaviman. Today morning , I went through the  news in “The Times of India” dated 09.09.2011 that Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired C E O Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday. Can one ever expect such a situation in India Post ? Why such hesitation then in raising voice against injustice ?

Similarly the employees in S B C O, Accounts , Postal Printing Press, RMS are quite suffocated with several local problems.

Will anyone now agree that Odisha Circle has no problem ? If I go on writing one by one cadre-wise, I will continue and there will be no end to narrate the sufferings of my colleagues.

We all know it very well that since long the Department has already adopted the successful corporate strategy of ‘Divide et impera’ with multiplicity of service unions / associations making the situation tailormade so that the unions and associations will work at cross purposes  and the management will find it easy to deal with the employees. The sooner we understand the evolvement of such strategies by the Department  to break our unity, the more beneficial we will be.

Dear All ! Problems are many. But the solution is only one – launching of a local united struggle programme under a single banner from E D ( GDS ) to A D forgetting the differences and feelings of wings and cadre as done in Kerala and which has not yet been organized especially and exclusively in Odisha Circle. Let’s try to solve the local issues first. The national issues will automatically find their own ways. In the analogy of charity begins at home, Kerala Circle has come forward. Let’s start in Odisha. If we become able to organize such programmes in every circle, I hope there will be no need for any nation-wide agitational programme.

I may not be misunderstood for citing the example of Kerala. I have no intention to remark that the leaderships of Odisha do not know to / can’t organize such a programme. I am confident, we can not only organize, but can bring total success. We are the proud heirs of Veer Surendra Sai, Buxi Jagabandhu, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Utkala Gourav Madhusudan Das and such many other legendary leaders who have taught us several mantras to save our swaviman. The only thing required at present  is the common interest of all the Circle Secretaries with equal mindsets to prepare a common platform.

Let the administration feel that the Odia postal employees are not cowards and they know to raise voice against every injustice, they know the ways to fight for their genuine demands and to bring justice for them.

In this context, I think it wise to quote the famous poem “Utkal Santan” written by Utkal Gourav Madhusuan Das.

“You proclaim yourself son of Utkal?
Why are you so coward
When your mother sheds tears
Why are you so afraid to tell?
Your ancestors had glory of
their valiantness
But why your chest trembles
To express your sorrow or
anguish narrating
before officers .
Your ancestors had conquered
From Ganga to Godavari
Being born of their sperms
in what way you
are equal to them ?
You have perhaps thought
that you will enhance
the prestige of the nation
by sycophancy.
But do not you know
that the nature of a
sycophant is like a dog
whose eyes are concentrated on
left out foods?
Ii you feel that interest is
be all and end all, then how the
development of the nation
will be possible ?
If flesh will be added
in elephantiasis leg
will that be counted as
good to health?
Whose mind is always busy
in his personal interest
how can he do good
for the development of the nation.
Will a dying patient will
revive or gain his life
if vultures and Jackals
become doctors or healers?”
 

To conclude, I can say this much that let the fraternal monsoon  now showering heavily in the South-western coast of India come to Odisha as early as possible to drench the dried union atmosphere prevailing now in Odisha Postal Circle so that the leaders can find a way out to wash away all onslaughts  continuing for years together  on the postal employees  who can take a breath of relief.

United struggle is the only alternative. Either accept it to enjoy or avoid to suffer. Choice is yours. We have witnessed several incidences in our lives depicting unity is strength. We have heard several stories about it. The sons of the blind man while became able to break a single stick individually, they could not break the bundle of sticks. Nothing more is required to make my learned and able colleagues understand the power of unity. Only thing required is to apply the same principle here. Shading crocodiles tears will yield nothing.

We are within the mass. If we think for the mass in general, our individual problems will automatically be solved.

So, without beating about the bush, let’s decide and do.

I would like to invite suggestions / comments from all corners.

Inquilab,  Zindabad.