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Twenty-two offices of RBI, including the one in the city, pulled down its shutters after almost all its employees called for a change in the Centre’s policy.
“The Centre has asked the RBI management not to update the pension money. Since we have failed to dissuade the managment and the Centre to reverse the policy, we have to undertake a protest,” said Ashim Kumar Roy of the Reserve Bank Employees Association.
For a similar cause, the RBI employees had observed a strike in October last year. According to the protestors, RBI being an autonomous body should take its own decision and not follow the directives of the Centre.
The employees said the RBI Board had decided to update the pension of pre-1997 retirees by bringing their basic pension in accordance with the basic pay from 1997, which has benefited about 4,000 pensioners.
“The Centre had followed the same principle by accepting the recommendations of successive pay commissions since 1998. Now, the Finance Ministry has diluted the authority of the RBI Board putting ex-RBI employees in a mess. Senior RBI employees have seen reduction in their pension to the extent of Rs 1,000 to Rs 6000 per month,” said a member of the All India Bank Officer’s Confederation.
“Since the RBI has its own funds to pay the pension why does the Centre tell us what to do? Our protest is supported by entire staff across the nation,” said Chunilal Debnath, a protestor.
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The working class unions and officers unions are busy in getting one more option for pension to the staff members but failed to protect the interest of those who had already taken the pension per pension regulations.No revision is sanctioned to pensioners since last twenty years.Even improved da formula is not applied to pensioners retired before 1.11.2002.Since there are no organisations to look into problems of public sector banks Govt dsres to write and give such directives to RBI so that other banks pensioners should not make a claim in a court of law.It is surprising that Govt revises pension of its own employss but do not allow others to follow
When the Union Government has updated pensions for its retired employees and enhanced the pension more liberally than what the Pay Commissions had recommended, and the Government has also allowed a large number of PSUs to update their pension payments why should it say a harsh NO to RBI employees? The RBI is the only institution in the country where pension has been REDUCED by an arbitrary order of the new Governor. Why are media persons silent on the harrassment meted out to the pensioners of RBI and other banks by the Government?