Mallikarjun Kharge Minister of Labour & Employment Inaugurates ESIC’s Super-Speciality Hospital at Sanathnagar Hyderabad (A.P.)

Mallikarjun Kharge Minister of Labour & Employment Inaugurates ESIC’s Super-Speciality Hospital at Sanathnagar Hyderabad (A.P.)

Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister of Labour & Employment inaugurated ESIC’s 126 bedded Super-Speciality Hospital, at Sanathnagar, Hyderabad on Saturday 30th April, 2011. Shri N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh was the Chief Guest of the function.

The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) is committed to work for the welfare of workers and improvement in their quality of life and for providing all possible social security to them. For providing the best Medical services to the Insured Persons and their families of Andhra Pradesh, the ESI Corporation’s 126 bedded ESIC Super Hospital at Sanathnagar, Hyderabad has come into reality now. At present, there are about 32899 Employers covering about 1567350 Employees and 4350969 Beneficiaries in the Hyderabad region.

Inaugurating the Hospital, Shri Kharge told the gathering that many other similar projects of ESIC are under construction with an estimated cost Rs. 9,000 crores. He urged the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to implement the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) in Andhra Pradesh. Shri N. Kiran Kumar Reddy assured that the State Government is fully ready to co-operate with the Central Government in implementing the labour friendly Schemes in the state.

The establishment of Super-Speciality Hospital at Sanathnagar, Hyderabad will immensely help the workers of Andhra Pradesh. The super-speciality hospital has been built up in 17241 sq. meter of land with an estimated cost of about Rs. 130 crores. The ESIC Hospital, Sanathnagar is centrally air conditioned with super-speciality facilities like Cardiology and Cardio thoracic surgery, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Nephrology and Urology and Paediatrics Surgery. The hospital will provide indoor, outdoor, emergency and diagnostic services to the Insured workers of Hyderabad in particular and of the State of Andhra Pradesh in general.

ESI Corporation has been providing services to the insured persons through its upgraded and modified hospitals and has tie-up arrangements with many other hospitals on cashless basis. Corporation has added huge infrastructure and provides benefits through 148 Hospitals, 42 Hospitals Annexes, 1402 ESI Dispensaries, 1540 Panel Clinics, 797 Branch/Pay Offices and 52 Regional/Sub-Regional/Divisional Offices.

Those present at the inaugural ceremony included Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeshwari, Union Minister of State for Textiles Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi, Secretary Ministry of Labour & Employment Shri Prabhat C. Chaturvedi, Vice Chairman National Disaster Management Authority Shri Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Members of Parliament Shri V. Hanumantha Rao, Shri Chandrakant Khaire and Shri Anjan Kumar Yadav, and Mayor Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Smt. Banda Karthika Reddy.

No Income Tax filing of returns’ scheme for salaried class employees

‘No Filing of returns’ scheme for salaried class earning less than Rs. 5 Lakh to be notified by June, 2011

The PTI Press Release intimates that the New Policy reg. ‘No Filing of returns’ scheme for salaried class earning less than Rs. 5 Lakh will be notified by June, 2011

‘No return’ scheme for salaried class earning less than Rs. 5 Lakh to be notified by June The Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT), Sudhir Chandra, today said the scheme to exempt salaried people earning up to Rs 5 lakh annually from filing income tax returns will be notified in the first week of June. The scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2011‐12 by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“A category of small‐salaried tax payers whose net salaried income is not above Rs 5 lakh and whose tax is deducted at source by the employer who files return, will be exempted from filing returns,” Chandra told reporters here.

“The scheme for this category will be notified in the first week of June,” he said. “But if the taxpayer is claiming a refund from the I‐T department, then he will have to file the return.”

The scheme will provide relief to about 70 to 80 lakh people from filing I‐T returns.

“We are also trying to exempt small bank‐interest income, the tax on which has been deducted at source, under this scheme,” he said.

“A new facility has been introduced on filing of electronic returns. At the click of the mouse, a portal will open…on which you can view every month how much money your employer has deducted, and whether it has been deposited in the government kitty,” Chandra said.


Source : PTI

Central Government employees’ retirement age to be extended by 2 years to 62

 

Central govt employees’ retirement age to be extended by 2 years to 62

New Delhi: The government is planning to extend the retirement age of all central government employees by two years — from the current 60 to 62 years. Sources said that an in-principle decision has been taken in this regard and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has begun the work to implement the same. A formal announcement to this effect is expected this year itself.

The last time the government extended the retirement age of central government employees was in 1998. It was also a two-year extension from 58. This was preceded by the implementation of the 5th Pay Commission, which had put severe strain on government’s finances. Subsequently, all state governments followed the Centre’s policy by extending the retirement age by two years. Public sector undertakings followed suit too.

The decision to extend the retirement age is well-timed both politically and economically.

The UPA government reckons the move would be a masterstroke. At a time when it is buffeted by several corruption cases, it is felt that the extension of the retirement age will go down well with the middle classes. Economically also, the move makes sense because by deferring payment of lump sum retirement benefits for a large number of employees by two years, the government would be able to manage its finances better. “An in-principle decision has been taken to increase the retirement age by two years within this year itself. This would reduce the burden on the fisc from one-time payment of retirement benefits for employees including defence and railways personnel,” an official involved in the discussion said. With the fiscal consolidation high on the government's agenda, this deferment would come handy.

There’s some flip side too if the retirement age is extended by two years. Those officials empanelled as secretaries and joint secretaries would have to wait longer to actually get the posts. And of course, there is the issue of average age profile of the civil servants being turning north.
It is also felt that any extension is not being fair with a bulk of people who still look for jobs in the government.

However, officials point out that at least it prevents an influential section of the bureaucracy to hanker for post-retirement jobs with the government like chairmanship of regulatory bodies or tribunals.

“As it is, a sizeable section of senior civil servants work for three to five years after the retirement in some capacity or the other in the government,” said a senior government official. The retirement age of college teachers and judges are also beyond 60.

As per a study, the future pension outgo for the existing Central and State government employees is estimated at a staggering R1,735,527 crore or 55.88% of GDP at market prices of 2004-05.

 

Source: The Financial Express

Entitlement of Transport Allowance to Railway employees

 

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINSTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)

No.PC-V/2003/PN M/DC-JCMI/12                                                                                                                         New Delhi, dated 4-4-2011

The General Secretary,
AIRF
4, State Entry Road,
New Delhi—55

Sir,

Sub: Entitlement of Transport Allowance to Railway employees employed at cities classified as ‘A-I’ and ‘A’ (DC/JCM item no.13/2004)

Ret: AIRF’s letter No.AIRF/DC/JCM/13/2004 (66) dated 28.3.2011

The undersigned is directed to state that the AIRF’s letter under reference was put up to the Board, who have observed that since the decision as regards recovery of excess amount of Transport Allowance paid in three cities viz., Lucknow, Nagpur and Jaipur has been taken by the nodal department i.e. Ministry of Finance, meeting with the officials of Railway Board is not going to change the situation. However, if the Federation can come out with new facts pertaining to the case, the same could be referred to the Ministry of Finance for reconsideration.

As regards the source of information of recoveries made in the concerned cities, it is mentioned that the said information has been duly collected from the concerned zonal Railways.

 

Yours faithfully,
s/d
For Secretary, Railway Board

 

Source: AIRF