Minutes of the Virtual/ Physical Meeting of the TSEWA National Executive Committee held at 1000 Hrs on 24 September 2022
Attendance
The meeting was attended by the following:-
- Cmde Sudheer Parakala President, in Chair
- Brig CS Vidyasagar Chief Mentor
- Brig DSC Varma Vice President
- Lt Col G Parvathesam General Secretary
- Cdr Chandra Shekhar Joint Secretary
- Hony Capt MN Reddy Joint Secretary
- Brig RS Rawat President TSEWA, Central Zone
- Maj Gen SN Mukherjee President TSEWA, East Zone
- Cmde Ashok Kota President TSEWA, South Zone
- WO Thiruchelvam President TSEWA, Tamilnadu
- Cmde KS Sandhu President TSEWA, West Zone
- Col Srikantha Seshadri President TSEWA, Karnataka
- Hav Harish Asthana President TSEWA, UP
- Hony Capt GJ Manohar President TSEWA, AP(Rayala Seema)
- Lt Col LM Singh President TSEWA, North East Zone
- Col Man Singh Jamwal President TSEWA, J & K
- Lt Col Dr. Bhaskara Reddy Member
- Lt Col VRRS Reddy Member
- Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy Member
- Hony Capt B Joseph Member
The President welcomed all present in the meeting and requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.
Item No. 1. Minutes of the Last NEC Meeting: The General Secretary read out minutes of the last NEC Meeting and explained the progress on each point.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 2. Problems due to SPARSH Migration: The President informed that SPARSH requires Google Chrome 8.0 or above and most of the problems may be because of using an earlier version. Hav Harish Asthana has informed that he has attended a meeting on SPARSH organized at HQ Central Command where he discussed various problems being faced by ESM. During the meeting, he could get solutions to all kinds of problems and hoped that no more problems due to SPARSH will be there. He reiterated that every pensioner should check correctness of the vital data like name of pensioner, spouse name, dependent Children and their dates of birth etc. Pension related problems may arise if the data is not tallying with each other of the following 5 documents:-
- Pension document-PPO
- Aadhar Card
- PAN Card
- ECHS Card
- Bank Pension Account
The President informed that it may not be easy to change the data in Defense Service Documents and suggested that the individuals should get other documents like Aadhar Card, PAN Card, etc, amended as per the laid down procedures if required. He emphasized that whenever an individual changed his Mobile, immediate action should be taken to inform all concerned authorities. Further, he requested Hav Harish Asthana to conduct a virtual meeting of all Help Line Warriors of TSEWA, explain various problems being faced by ESM due to SPARSH Migration and probable solutions to each problem.
Action: Hav Harish Asthana is requested to conduct a virtual meeting of all Help Line Warriors of TSEWA at the earliest.
Item No. 3. Recognition of TSEWA: The President emphasized that there is a need to apply for recognition of TSEWA as a ESM Association with Ministry of Defense, Government of India, so that TSEWA is invited for the quarterly meetings and TSEWA can take up the genuine problems being faced by ESM fraternity. TSEWA NEC approved the proposal by majority voting in favor. However, the NEC opined that TSEWA should not stop any welfare activity just for the sake of recognition by MOD. The President informed that suggestions for improvement of the draft circulated were incorporated and the final letter would be submitted with all the required documents to DGR for Registration.
Action: The President and General Secretary are requested to apply to DGR for Registration
Item No. 4. Veterans treatment in Empaneled Hospitals: The President informed that an amount of Rs 1000 Crores has been released for ECHS. Col Srikantha Seshadri opined that it is not possible to comment upon the adequacy of amount released since various regional centers and MD will alone know the outstanding bills to be cleared by the Regional Centers.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 5. Assistance rendered for Ms Indira Arunachalam: The President appreciated Cmde KS Sandhu for his efforts in release of family pension to Smt Indira Arunachalam, D/O Late Sri Arunachalam who worked as Office Supdt in PCDA (Navy). He informed that Smt Indira Arunachalam was presented the PPO by the Bank and informed that a sum of Rs. 14, 79,563/- was credited to her account towards the arrears and a regular pension of Rs.12.060/- pm. Cmde KS Sandhu informed that Smt Indira Arunachalam has gratefully donated Rs.45,000/- to TSEWA which she received as financial assistance when she was facing acute financial problems and was living on ‘Prasadams’ in a near by temple. Maj Gen SN Mukherjee also appreciated Cmde KS Sandhu for getting the family pension released to Mrs Nandita Chaudhary, a Family Pensioner of Indian Navy.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 6. Resignation of Treasurer, Lt Col VC Salins: The President informed that Lt Col VC Salins has resigned the appointment of Treasurer of TSEWA with immediate effect, as he is going abroad and due to his personal reasons. Col Venkatesh Mahadevan, (TSEWA Mem. No. 6880) has volunteered and NEC unanimously approved his appointment as Treasurer of TSEWA.
Action: The General Secretary is requested to find out suitable member for the appointment of Treasurer by NEC during the next meeting.
Item No. 7. AFT Case for N/Sub Pension for Hony N/Sub: Brig CS Vidyasagar explained the case once again to all present and reaffirmed that Hony Nb Subs of pre-2006 are also entitled to pension of Nb Subs at par with Hony Nb Subs of post 2006 as per various judgments and MOD Orders, which have been ignored by PCDA(P). The President informed that our Advocate has been suitably briefed to argue our AFT cases 8 and 8A on the subject and that our letter dated 25 Aug 2022 has adequately covered all the issues and hoped that the Government would take a positive decision.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 8. Funds for TSEWA Charity Activities: The General Secretary informed that there are no funds available for Charity Activities. There is no communication in this regard from Col Nagesh Gupta, who has been main source of funds for Charity Activities. Further, he appreciated the generosity of Mrs S. Deepta Reddy (D/O Lt Col VRRS Reddy, an active member of TSEWA NEC), who has donated Rs 30,000/- to TSEWA for Charity Activities.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 9. Donation from an NGOs: The President informed that, knowing our welfare activities for ESM and widows, the General Secretary received a call from an NGO, to donate some amount to TSEWA but they wanted the proposed list of beneficiaries to be sent to them. The President informed that he also received a similar call from another NGO but was willing to donate some money without any strings attached. The matter was discussed at length and it was decided that TSEWA would not enter into any Agreement with any NGO which could bind TSEWA.
Maj Dr. B. Bhikshapathy also suggested that TSEWA should not accept any donation from any NGO involved in any illegal or antisocial activities.
The decision on the matter is kept pending till next meeting of TSEWA NEC after receipt of a firm proposal from the NGO.
Action: Nil.
Item No. 10. AFT Case for MSP for Lt to Brig: The President informed that MSP has been granted from 01 Sep 2008, whereas it is supposed to be granted from 01 Jan 2006 since MSP is part of the Pay. The President informed that due to the restriction on total number to be included in Class-action suits laid down by the Chairperson of the AFT, the Advocate would be filing seven OAs by splitting the total number of 130 litigants, service wise and category wise i.e. Officers / and JCO/ORs.
Action: Nil
Item No. 11. Awareness Camp at Kolkata: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee confirmed that all arrangements have been completed for the camp to be conducted on 18 Dec 22 from 10 AM to 3 PM or so. He requested the TSEWA HQ to intimate officials who would attend so that necessary accommodation arrangements could be made. Maj Gen Mukherjee also requested presence of Col Srikanta Seshadri to cover the ECHS matters.
Action: General Secretary requested to finalise and intimate the names.
Item No. 12. Admission in Empaneled Hospital: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee wanted to clarify whether an ESM can get admitted in a different Empaneled Hospital for the same problem, if he is not completely cured by first Empaneled Hospital. Col Srikantha Seshadri clarified that it is admissible after 24 hours from discharge from first hospital. However, the ESM has to obtain a fresh referral from the ECHS Polyclinic. He also clarified that ECHS will not recommend any particular empaneled hospital and it is left to the choice of the individual.
Item No. 13. Donations from Corporate Offices: Maj Dr. B. Bhikshapathy informed that TSEWA has written letters once earlier, to various Corporate Offices, requesting donations to TSEWA. However, the response was not that good because of the Corona Problems. He suggested to write a letter once again with a suggestion to be pursued by Sons/ Daughters of TSEWA Members with the Corporates they are associated with.
The President negated the idea and said that TSEWA will not seek any donations and would receive only voluntary donations, without any strings attached.
There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 12:40 PM and decided to hold the next NEC Meeting on 08 Oct 2022.
Sudheer Parkala
Commodore, IN (Retd)
President, TSEWA