I most respectfully wish to draw your kind attention to the issues of Bank Pensioners , which are pending unresolved  with Indian Banks Association (IBA)/ Finance Ministry (FM) for last more than 20 years (4 Bi partite settlements. The apathy and negative attitude of IBA/FM has pushed the pensioners to live in a very miserable life. The main demands of bank pensioners are listed in short for your ready reference:

(1) Periodical Revision/ Updation of Pension -The pension of bank retirees doesn’t get revised with the wage revision of serving class. There are hundreds of thousands of Bank retirees who stay at the same level since it was sanctioned decades back. The pension of retirees from other sectors in comparable positions is as high as ten times if not more. Bank retirees are finding it difficult to subsist on the pittance they receive as pension. These retirees who have contributed significantly to the cause of nation-building in the pre and post-nationalisation days are being ignored. As such, the revision/ updation of Pension is utmost necessary in order to provide a better livelihood to Bank pensioners as is in case of central govt. retirees. It is needless to stress that updation has already been agreed upon and implemented in the case of Central Government Employees since last 6th Pay Commission. It is not an exaggeration if I state that a Regional Manager of Bank retired in 1985 gets a meagre amount of Rs. 4,000/- only as pension.

(2) Pre-1986 Retirees- Those who retired from Banks prior to 1986 are being paid an Ex-Gratia of    Rs. 300/-per month and the spouse of such retirees when the die are paid a lumpsum of Rs. 1000/-per month. These amounts were fixed as long as more than 15 years back and retirees genuinely expect to get the same revised. This is now agreed upon but the amount revised is very paltry and requires reconsideration.

(3) Revision in Family Pension- In 1995 the rates of family pension were fixed from 15 to 30 percent with applicable ceilings which is found to be quite inadequate in view of high cost of living. Hence, a suitable revision on the lines of central Govt. family pensioners is a dire necessity.

(4) Uniform D A to Pre- Nov.2002 Retirees- Earlier in banking sector the dearness allowance was paid on tapering basis and pension also attracted the same formula. However, since Nov. 2002, D A is being paid to serving class on the basis of 100% neutralisation against inflation and post- November, 2002 retirees are also getting D A at 100% neutralisation, it is unjustified to deny the same to pre-2002 retirees. Hence, it is required to make D A rate uniform on pension to all bank retirees.

(5) Hospitalisation and Medical Facilities- In the present era of high cost of hospitalisation facilities and medicines the Bank retirees are pressed hard to spend a major portion of pension on treatment of the chronic diseases and on domiciliary treatment in absence of any such scheme which affect their subsistence adversely and are bound to live in poor conditions. Hence, a suitable scheme on par with Govt. retirees is required to be provided to Bank retirees, too.

The issues mentioned hereinabove are very genuine but IBA/FM has not been giving any ear on plea that there is huge NPA in banks and if the issues resolved, it will burden the banks and their profitability will affect adversely. But contrarily, the fact is that banks have been making a huge profit due to strong foundation laid by these retirees during their serving period and their contribution in building the strong national economy can not  /must not be ignored. The issues will part with a very small fraction of the profit earned by Banks. All Banks are having huge pension fund to meet out the cost involvement in these issues and G O I has not make any budgetary allocation. It is pertinent to mention that the rising NPA in banks is not due to the fault of the Bank retirees but the result of faulty policies of Govt. of India and corruption prevailing amongst the top executives of Banks. SOCIALISATION AND COMMERCIALISATION CAN NOT RUN PARRALEL.

I, therefore, most humbly request you to intervene personally into the matter and redress the issues of Bank pensioners and retirees pending with IBA/ Govt. of India.

The Petition is important because the Lacs of Bank Pensioners & Retirees AND the Family pensioners will be benefited and will be able to live with honor.