Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (KD/NR)

Mangalore, Nov 5: A meet of retired officers was held here in the city on Sunday, Nov. 4.

Addressing the meet the Canara Bank Retired Officers’ Association (CBROA) national general secretary V Seetharam demanded that pension should be given to all bank employees who were retired before January 1, 1986.

According to him denying pension to those who retired before 1986, is an act of   discrimination on the part of government. In his opinion the updating relating to pension scheme should be made applicable and implemented to all retired officers without considering their date of retirement to abolish the imbalance in pension scheme.

In this context he queried “If RBI can implement updation of pension, why the same cannot be implemented in all banks?” Moreover, in view of the large backlog of pending cases pertaining to the problems of retired bank employees in the nation, Seetharam rued that “neither the government nor courts were concerned about the retirees” and even lamented that “Banks do not earmark separate amount for the welfare of retirees as directed by the Finance Ministry”.

Seetharam therefore said “It is the right time that all retired bank employees should join hands to fight.” He even exhorted them to enroll as members of the association and stated that the majority of retired bank employees were still not in touch with any association. He opined that their voice would not be heart unless they become a member of an association.

Another speaker on the occasion was M P Ramaswamy, deputy general manager CBROA who informed the gathering that the Association had a total strength of 2,210 members and had a fund of Rs 24 lac. Before the next bi-annual general body meeting, the total number of members is expected to cross 2,500, he declared.

Canara Bank retired senior executive B V L Rao and member Sukumar Talpady, were present on the occasion.