The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Anantapur News : Insurance staff stir hits transactions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur

Insurance staff stir hits transactions

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, MARCH 31. Working in the branches of public sector insurance companies in the district was hit today due to the strike of insurance employees on a call given by the All India Insurance Employees' Association (AIIEA) in support of their long pending demands.

According to the union leaders -- Koushik, H. Vijaya Lakshmi, D. Ramesh, S.N. Sai Vikram and T. Ramakrishna - their demands on wage revision for III and IV class employees were pending since August 2002. Though there had been no recruitment since 1994, there has been about 500 per cent growth in the public sector insurance business. Work burden on the employees has increased steeply. While an employee-insurance policy ratio was 1:450 in 1994, it was 1:1,300 now. There were no permanent sub-staff and peons. As every employee had contributed to the growth of business wage revision was most appropriate for the employees. The revision would not also burden the managements as they are financially sound, they said.

Tirupati: Normal insurance transactions were disrupted in Tirupati. Employees gathered outside their branch here and raised anti-Government slogans carrying placards. Addressing them, the president of the local unit of the AIIEA, Y.K. Krishnakumar, said that this was only a beginning of their agitational programme.

The Union Secretary, K. Gopalakrishnaiah said that the employees in the LIC played no mean role in increasing the number of policy holders from a mere Rs. 7 crores in 1998 to the present Rs. 17-crore mark that too with a poor staff strength. The implementation of VRS and other schemes saw 16,000 employees leaving the organisation in the recent years. The leaders also criticised the IRDA for trying to weaken the organisation through its `backdoor' machinations and manipulations.

E.V. Ramana, secretary of the Branch-II spoke.

Cuddapah: In Cuddapah the LIC Employees' Union divisional general secretary, B.V.S. Raju, and the Development Officers' Union secretary, E. Amarnath Babu, alleged that the pay scale offered lacked scientific approach and there was no net hike in allowances.

A justified wage revision in tune with the progress achieved by the LIC was demanded. They alleged that UPA Government's interference further delayed the wage revision. The union's divisional president, A. Raghunatha Reddy, the convener, M. Vijayalakshmi, the GIC Employees' Union leaders -- T. Guruprasad and Bhaskar -- also spoke.

NELLORE: LIC employees, belonging to Nellore division, along with various cadres, also participated in the one-day strike. They demanded immediate settlement to their pending problems which include implementation of pay revision commission and withdrawal of surcharge on insurance premium. The president of the union, B. Srinivasulu, secretary, V.Ch. Sarma, and others spoke.

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