No.
PJCA-Odisha/ COVID-19/2020,
Dated at
Bhubaneswar the 21st July, 2020
To
Col.
Jaleswar Kanhar, IPoS
Chief
Postmaster General
Odisha
Circle, Bhubaneswar – 751 001
Sub:-
Handling situation and disruption on account of COVID - l9 in Odisha
Circle – regarding.
Respected Sir,
As aware, to escape from the harmful effects of COVID-19
pandemic, while the Directorate has decided to stop physical despatch of
communications (Letters / Statements / Reports) from Directorate to Circles and
vice versa and even within Directorate, the Circle administration has also
restricted the entry of public to the Circle Office.
But, it is quite surprising that while taking such decisions,
the Department forgot the condition of lakhs of its employees who are working
in Post and RMS Offices and physically handling innumerable
letters/parcels/packets moving though different modes of transmission under
different temperature in different places where possibility of carrying novel
corona virus is more. Such orders prove that the lives of the employees working
in administrative offices are more precious than the lives of the operative
employees in the eyes of the Directorate and Circle Office. Perhaps for this
reason, operative employees are not even spared on weekend shutdown declared by
the State Government and full attendance is enforced in Post / RMS Offices in
spite of clear guidelines to reduce the staff strength to 33% / 50% with
staggering of work / business hours, screening and hygiene, frequent
sanitization etc. by MHA and DoPT.
While
the operative staff members in Post and RMS Offices are working day and night
without PPE, proper and regular sanitization of workplaces due to non-supply of
machine and disinfectants, zero thermal scanning of customers due to non-supply of thermal scanners
by the administration, violation of social distancing due to cramped
accommodation and want of proper sitting arrangement for the members of public,
there is every apprehension that very soon the post offices will be converted
into maternity home of COVID-19 if we take a look on the increasing trend of
traced, positive and death cases throughout the nation.
In
the meantime, Odisha Postal Circle has already witnessed several positive cases
in Parlakhemeundi HO, Berhampur RMS, Balasore RMS, Amarda S O (Mayurbhanj
Division) and in many other places including the first COIVD-19 death case of
late G P Dash, PA, Parlakhemundi HO.
At
this critical juncture, the Postal JCA, Odisha Circle feels that the Department
is not at all serious towards the operative side where the staff members are
more vulnerable to novel corona virus in spite of several letters written by
individual Unions and RJCM (Staff Side), Odisha Circle. The supply of
preventive materials like hand wash, sanitizer, hand gloves, face masks etc.
has remained in pen and paper. Even after 3 months of horrible condition of
COVID-19 pandemic, neither the supply of such materials to post offices by the
Divisional administration is regular nor the SPMs / Postmasters / SROs / HROs
have been specifically ordered for the purpose to purchase and submit the bills
for sanction so far. It is witnessed
that the employees are purchasing such items out of their own pocket to save
their lives.
The
Postal JCA also feels that our letters, appeals and discussions have no impact
on administration except to run the Department at the cost of the lives of
these innocent operative staff members and to achieve the targets by hook or by
crook in the name of providing essential services. Excessive staff resentments are mushrooming
at grass root level which may not be controlled in future since all are feeling
insecure in respect of their lives including the family members. The reaction of
the mass is “Enough is enough”.
As
such, with due regards to the sentiments of all grass root level members, we
would like to request you once again to look into the following aspects urgently
without any plea or delay to contain spread of COVID-19 and to save the lives
of the staff and their family members.
1.
To run the Post / RMS Offices with 50% staff
introducing roster arrangement including administrative offices, PAO, PSDs,
CPCs, Hubs etc. exempting physically handicapped and pregnant women employees.
2.
To reduce the business hours of the Post and
RMS Offices restricting to maximum 5 hours on all working days and 3 hours on
Saturday.
3.
To ensure compulsory COVID-19 Test of all
employees. In the first phase, the employees of GPOs/HOs/MDGs and other bigger
offices including administrative Offices may be targeted.
4.
To close all PO Aadhaar Centres and other
biometric activities like PMA, AePS etc.
5.
Not to ensure achievement of annual targets
fixed for 2020-21 in respect of POSB, IPPB, PLI/RPLI and BD products and
services.
6.
To stop doorstep delivery of articles except
medicines and essential items and to ensure window delivery.
7.
To ensure supply of adequate preventive
materials centrally by Divisional Offices to all offices calculating their
daily requirements according to the staff strength.
8.
To convert the IRs / IQs and vacant staff
quarters to COVID-19 Isolation Centres for suspected / affected Departmental
employees and GDS.
9.
Supply of Thermal Scanners and Sanitization
Machines to all POs / RMS Offices with permission for purchase of required
disinfectants as and when necessary.
10.
Deployment of a person on daily wage basis at
the main entrance of the POs, especially in bigger offices with unexpected rush
of customers for thermal scanning,
requesting / helping each customer to wash hands and to use sanitizer
and to restrict entry of customers to the Counter Hall till restoration of
normalcy.
11.
Provision of police assistance at the
entrance of the bigger offices like GPOs/HOs, HSG-I / HSG-II SOs and MDGs to
minimize rush of customers into the counter hall and to maintain proper social
distancing.
12.
To close down all post offices in the
containment zones and on each Saturday in the areas where weekend shutdown is
declared by the State Govt.
13.
To return all RMS staff members brought on
deputation from Puri and Cuttack RMS to NSH Bhubaneswar during this lockdown
period.
14.
Temporary sitting arrangements for customers especially
for senior citizens / women and disabled with provision of chairs, writing
tables, fans and drinking water facility in the available space of the PO
premises till restoration of normalcy.
Further to intimate that
if the above demands are not addressed properly within a week’s time, the
Postal JCA, Odisha Circle will be forced to adopt serious agitational programmes throughout the
Circle as permissible within the lockdown period culminating to strike, if
situation warrants to save the entirety of postal workers and employees of
Odisha Circle.
We should be very
specific that dislocation in operative works occurs if any during the current
crisis of COVID-19 due to such agitational programmes of Postal JCA, Odisha,
the Circle administration will be completely held responsible.
Hope,
the administration will come forward immediately for a suitable negotiation for
settlement of all the above issues without further delay.
A line of reply on the
action taken is highly solicited at the earliest.
With
regards.
Yours faithfully,
(Raj Kishore Mohapatra)
Circle Secretary, P-III,
BPEF, Odisha
|
(Manoj Ku Panigrahi)
Circle Secretary, P-III,
FNPO, Odisha
|
(Bruhaspati Samal)
Circle Secretary, P-III
NFPE, Odisha
|
(J Pradhan)
Circle Secretary, P-IV
BPEF, Odisha
|
(Lambodar Raut)
Circle Secretary, P-IV
FNPO, Odisha
|
(M C S Rao)
Circle Secretary, P-IV
NFPE, Odisha
|
(S B Jena)
Circle Secretary
BEDEU, Odisha
|
(R N Pattnaik)
Circle Secretary, R-III
FNPO, Odisha
|
(Dusmanta Ku. Sethi)
Circle Secretary, R-III
NFPE, Odisha
|
(Syed Basha)
Circle Secretary, R-IV
FNPO, Odisha
|
(R N
Mohanty)
Circle Secretary, R-IV
NFPE, Odisha
|
|
(Goutam Das)
Circle Secretary
NUGDS, Odisha
|
(Kalinga Ku. Panda)
Circle Secretary
AIPAEA, Odisha
|
|
(Srikanta Mallick)
Circle Secretary
AIPEBCOEA, Odisha
|
||
(Pradosh Ku. Mohanty)
Circle Secretary
AIPAOEU, Odisha
|
||
(Ashok Kumar Panda)
Circle Secretary
AIPEU GDS, Odisha
|
Copy forwarded to all Secretary Generals /
General Secretaries of all Federations / Unions for kind information and
necessary action.
No comments:
Post a Comment