AIRRBEA bats for own identity of RRBs
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 30 2011:
Secretary general of All India Regional Rural Bank Employees' Association Dilip Kumar Mukherjee has called for 'separate own identity' of the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) with specific objective to serve the rural poor mass.
Addressing a press conference at Hotel Imphal here today, Dilip Kumar, who arrived at Imphal on a two-day visit to the State, asserted that to undertake the greater responsibility of 'branch expansion' with 'brick and mortar branches' in unbanked areas and to ensure 'sustainable viability' through 'cross subsidisation', RRBs must be delinked from the sponsor banks which are 'master cum competitor' and should be brought under the umbrella of a National Rural Bank exclusively for rural and agricultural credit.
Demanding that RRB staff be given Pension like other staff in Public sector banks, Dilip Kumar noted that RRB staff have been given the benefit of same salary structure of the PSB staff from September 1, 1987 as per award of the National Tribunal appointed by the Government of India at the direction of Supreme Court.
Subsequently, the benefit of pension was introduced in the banking industry as per Settlement on October 29, 1993 .
But the said benefit has not been extended so far to the RRB staff through pension benefit is a part of the salary structure as per the Supreme Court judgement.
However, after a long struggle, GOI has appointed Actuary to calculate pension liability and received the figures.
Since the GoI has agreed to finalise the issue, the entire RRB staff, including the retired, deceased, etc are expected to receive in immediate future 'pension & PF' at par with the PSB staff in terms of bipartite settlement in the banking industry.