Minutes of the Virtual/ Physical Meeting of the TSEWA National Executive Committee held at 1000 Hrs on 08 October 2022

Attendance

The meeting was attended by the following:-

1. Cmde Sudheer Parakala         President, in Chair
2. Brig CS Vidyasagar                   Chief Mentor
3. Brig DSC Varma                        Vice President
4. Col N Sitaramaiah                    Chairman, Charity Division
5. Lt Col G Parvathesam             General Secretary
6. Hony Capt MN Reddy             Joint Secretary
7. Cmde Ashok Kota                   President TSEWA, South Zone
8. WO Thiruchelvam                   President TSEWA, Tamilnadu
9. Cmde KS Sandhu                    President TSEWA, West Zone
10. Col Srikantha Seshadri           President TSEWA, Karnataka
11. Col Ajit Singh Rana                  President TSEWA, North Zone
12. Hav Harish Asthana                President TSEWA, UP
13. Hony Capt GJ Manohar           President TSEWA, AP(Rayala Seema)
14. Col Man Singh Jamwal            President TSEWA, J & K
15. Col Raghbir Singh                    President TSEWA, Punjab
16. Sub KV Subba Rao                   President TSEWA, AP Coastal Area
17. Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary             TSEWA Advocate
18. Lt Col Dr. Bhaskara Reddy      Member
19. Lt Col VRRS Reddy                    Member
20. Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy           Member
21. 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:  WO Thiruchelvam informed that one of the ESMs has got a message that his account has been migrated to SPARSH. But, he did not get the user id and password. He is unable to send his life certificate to SPARSH. State Bank of India Brach Office nearby also did not help him for his life certificate.
Brig CS Vidyasagar suggested to send such cases to him, which can be sent to SBI HQ for instructing the Bank concerned. Further he informed that while submitting life certificate using Jeevan Praman, one should ensure writing PCDA as Paying authority and SPARSH as Payment Distribution Authority (PDA). Further, he expressed his concern about tallying of the Name of the Pensioner in Pension Documents with Aadhar Card etc, The mismatch may be mainly because of using abbreviations of Surname in one document and full Surname in other documents or so. As Specific Identification Numbers are already there in Aadhar Card and Pan Card of the Pensioner, there should be no requirement of tallying name in all the documents.
Hav Harish Asthana suggested to contact SPARSH Help Line or +91 53224 23486 and get the user id and password so that life certificate can be submitted. Maj Dr. B Bhikshapthy suggested to send the life certificate to SPARSH using CPENGRAMS complaint, when no other method is working.  Col Ajit Singh Rana suggested that  the Vice-Presidents of TSEWA shall be the Single point of contact of TSEWA to get the details of all SPARSH Migration Problems and write to higher HQs.    Col N Sitaramaiah suggested that TSEWA should write a letter to PCDA to make a Training Video on SPARSH Migration, giving step by step procedure to be followed by a pensioner.
The President requested Hav Harish Asthana to conduct a virtual meeting of Help Line Warriors on SPARSH Migration on 14 October 22 at 5 PM onwards, which is accepted by the TSEWA NEC.
Action: The General Secretary is requested to do the needful to create the meeting link to facilitate the virtual meeting.

Item No. 3. Recognition of TSEWA: The President informed that TSEWA has written a letter to MOD on the subject as approved by the TSEWA NEC.
Action:  Nil.

Item No. 4. Increase of Dearness Allowance: The President informed that Government of India has issued orders for increase of DA from 34% to 38% w.e.f. 01 July 2022, which is likely to be credited with October month Pension.
Action:  Nil.

Item No. 5. Pension Case of Ex Hav A Lawrence:   Ex Hav A Lawrence joined Infantry Boys in 1959 and in 1961 was remusterd into Infantry Madras Regt. He took part in 1962 war with China in Arunachal Pradesh and in 1965 Indo Pak operations and in 1971 war for liberation of Bangladesh.   In 1973 the rules of service were changed and it became 15 years of colour service and he was ill advised by the then Unit mil leadership due to which he left service with 14 years 5 months service with a pittance as gratuity.
In spite of approaching the President of India the COAS and other Mil dignitaries he remained as ESM without pension and without ECHS or Canteen facilities. He went to an advocate who took Rs 50000 and did not file a case. As a last resort he approached TSEWA and his case was taken up pro bono (without any fee) and filed in AFT Chennai.  Justice has been delivered with Pension ordered from 2001 with waiver of 5 months 9 days service shortage.   The Judgment including his wife name for family pension with arrears from 2015 was issued by the AFT.
Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary, TSEWA Advocate, who fought the case and won, handed over a copy of the Judgment to Ex Hav Lawrence at the National Executive Committee Meeting.  The TSEWA NEC appreciated the efforts of Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary in this regard.
Action:  Nil.

Item No. 6.  Financial Assistance to Miss Sandhya: The General Secretary informed that Ms Sandhya, who has completed her graduation with the help of TSEWA, has joined Teacher Training Course and requested for help from TSEWA. The NEC appreciated the kind heartedness 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 to help Ms Sandhya.
Action:  Nil.

Item No. 7. Funds for TSEWA Charity Activities: The General Secretary informed that Col Nagesh Gupta has donated Rs 40,000/- to TSEWA. The amount is being disbursed to 5 deserving students from Railway Degree Colleges of Sanga Reddy and Hyderabad.
Action:  The General Secretary is requested to do the needful.

Item No. 8. Appreciation of Front line Warriors of TSEWA: The General Secretary has praised the efforts of all Front Line Warriors and appreciated Hav Harish Ashana, who could get arrears of  Rs 20,55,307 to Sqn Ldr Brahm Prakash Kulshreshta and Rs 14,20,515/- to a widow Smt Samim w/o Late Sep Mohd Subham.
Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy has expressed concern that the welfare activities carried out by the Front Line Warriors are not being highlighted on TSEWA website or otherwise. He volunteered himself to compile these welfare activities and highlight them suitably.
Action:  All Front Line Warriors are requested to send a monthly report, in last week of the month, about  the welfare activities that they have carried out to Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy for compilation.

Item No. 10.  Financial Assistance to Ms Parvathi, a disabled girl with artificial limb: Col N Sitaramaiah informed that the case of the girl is pitiable and TSEWA should help her. The General Secretary clarified that he has spoken to the family members of the girl, who have already put the request for aid in Facebook and other social media and are getting sufficient funds for the studies of the girl. TSEWA shall do the needful if requirement comes from the family.
Action:  Nil.

Item No. 11. Awareness Camp at Roorkee: The President informed that Brig CS Vidyasagar and himself are planning to attend the Camp on 18 December 2022. 

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 11:35 AM and decided to hold the next NEC Meeting on 22 Oct 2022.

Sudheer Parakala
Commodore, IN (Retd)
President