BJP :: TOUR OF KANYAKUMARI, NAGERCOIL AND THOOTHUKUDI DISTRICTS
By
Lt Col CR Sundar, President, TN BJP ESM Cell
How does one wean the suffering ExServicemen from the perniciously superstitious idea that they have to be ‘apolitical’? In my attempt to find answers to this vexing question I searched for answers to other questions.
How did a young man born Narendra Dutta transform himself to become Swami Vivekananda and by his preaching elevate Hinduism to the status of a world religion? How did Mohandas Gandhi find believers in Ahimsa and Sathyagraha to turn himself into a Mahatma and the Father of the Nation? How could Gautama, a prince born in obscure Lumbini elevate himself to Buddha who preached the ‘four noble truths’ and thus established a religion? How could Adi Sankara spread his doctrine of Advaitha, the absence of duality in a sub continent which was at that time steeped in Vaishanavism?
The answer is that they travelled far and wide to spread the truths that dawned on them. They travelled unceasingly, crisscrossing the great sub continent that is India and caring for the troubles of those neglected.
So Ushi and I travel.
We visited the Thane Cyclone hit ExServicemen of Cuddalore and Villupuram Districts and wept with the ruined exservicemen who had lost everything.
Last week we visited the Southern Districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi, in that order.
At Nagercoil in Kanyakumari District we had a very happy meeting with Maj Gen VDI Devavaram and Sugitha, our friends from back when we were young regimental officers.
Our travels led us to various ECHS polyclinics and DSS&A Board offices. The scenes we saw and the tales we were told by ESM in misery caused in us immeasurable agony and distress.
At one poly clinic we saw ESM patients waiting under trees. The makeshift shelter under which others sat was of the poorest quality. Inside the polyclinic we saw the appalling sight of three doctors sitting around a table examining three different patients. Is not the discussion between a doctor and a patient confidential? How can intimate examinations be carried out in such a circumstance?
Has the Armed Forces lost all sense of shame? Don’t doctors have any professionalism anymore?
At another polyclinic the tales of owe were endless. Medicines demanded for the quarter ending September 2011 have not yet been received. The present rules have done away with the local purchase powers of Rs. 30,000/- with the Station Commander. Local purchase can be restored to only after receiving an NA certificate. But depots do not give NA certificates. They simply remain silent.
Type D and Type C Polyclinics were originally not authorised Pharmacists. What is a clinic without a pharmacist? Cases were taken up and now Polyclinics are authorised Pharmacists but money to pay them is not sanctioned.
So the Sub Area Commander in Trivandrum pays out Rs. 5,000/- from his fund to the pharmacist. Seen against the fact that other para-medics are paid Rs. 10,000/- this is grossly unfair. A pharmacist’s work starts with the first patient and goes on till he closes the accounts an hour after the last patient. Yet, this is the way it is.
Employees in Polyclinics do not have Provident Fund accounts and are not provided Insurance cover either under the ESI Act or any other scheme. They have no fixed tenure. They can be removed any time. In any case they are thrown out after three years. It is not understandable how army officers whose training and service ethics binds them to think of the welfare of the society can let such exploitative practices prevail.
Undue delay in payments by ECHS to empanelled hospitals is another distressing tale. Would a commanding officer condone a delay on the part of his officers in the clearance of a mess bill? How come that when such an officer is promoted and becomes a Station Commander he cares nothing about clearance of hospital bills on time?
The problems that ESM have with DSS&A Boards also needs to be looked into. All papers regarding family pensions are required to be attested by a Thasildar. It is not understandable as to why the same cannot be attested by the Assistant Director of the local DSS&A Board though he is many times higher in protocol than the thasildar.
At another place we were sorry to hear the tale of a Warrant Officer who had been overlooked for the promotion to the rank of Assistant Director in favour of the office superintendent, a civilian with much less service.
Overall, we returned with the indisputable conclusion that there is a general decline in the welfare of ESM. And matters are going from bad to worse.
We find that because the ‘favour seekers’ in Chennai wine and dine with the ‘powers that be’ three times a year the lower strata of ESM are neglected. That whereas the rules and laws provide a safety net to some retired personnel in Chennai those in the districts are ignored and abandoned.
There is no other way to arrest this decline except by ESM becoming politically active. Also BJP needs to act strongly to galvanise the government in the matter of ESM welfare.
Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak writes:
Dear Sir
I share the anguish that you feel afterthe tour.
IESM's Pune team also does tour the state just like you but not as extensively as we have fund restraints.However whenever we do go to villages and rural areas our experience is the same.
There are many issues which are to be dealt with by the GOI but all issues connected with the ECHS are in house.Most that you have stated are required to be sorted out by the Station Commanders under whom the Polyclinic falls.It is also largely dependent on how the Oi/c performs his duties.You talk of doctors having no professionalalism.Do we have it left in us that we employ them and provide no accomodation?
As regards medicines we have had this problem even with the Military hospitals and teh ECHS depends upon the sam esource for medicines.I wish to inform you that IESM and its ECHS division have handled this issue and the case for outsourcing supply of medicines through private medical store operators is pensing with GOI.It would be nice if in the next session of parliament BJP could ask the GOI question on this and get the case cleared.If you are keen to do that i will ask the ECHS division to give you the details.
The polyclinics are suffering due to lack of land being made available by local Governments in non military stations.May be you could get details from the Rajya Sainik Board director or the Regional ECHS office and make efforts to get lands released.
I wonder why the BJP veterans wing(Akhil Bhartiya Purva Sainik Parishad ) branch at Tamilnadu did not take up any work with Thane affected.May be BJP should get get its own units into gear for such work.
The DSSAB is a joke.I hope you are aware that a Lt Col who heads the district office of this organisation at least in Maharashtra is equal to a Tehsildar.Who has allowed this down grading of a Lt Col?This department itself needs a dose of change.Why not take up with DGR under whom they function and who pays 60% of the employment costs.
I feel that there is a need for all ESM organisations to come together and work out a MCP anf work together to get all Veterans our dues.
Often we blame the GOI or the Babus for our woe's but on closer scrutiny we find that those serving are the ones who have been paying lip service to Veterans issues in the belief that they would serve forever.
Pls consider if your cell can work with us on a CMP.We have already talked to Lt Gen V M Patil President ABPSP and he is working on these lines.May be even your organisation can.
Brgds
Pathak.
Cdr MV Raghavan writes:
Sundar,
Great work and keep going. Unfortunately, after yesterday's goings on in the Karnataka assembly am getting a little circumspect about BJP. But your suggestion that ESM organizations must get political is very sound and valid.
Rags
Maj Gen Jose Manavalan writes:
Dear Col Sundar,
Your account is really frightening. At least on ECHS the Area must be made to wake up. Why don't you present this account to the GOC at the earliest and ask him to correct it. Write a DO letter to him with a copy to the Army Cdr. In Central Command, I as the MG Adm was instructed to inspect most out station clinics and report to the GOC in C. He visited 70 % clinics in Central Command and ensured that Area Cdrs visited 100 %. 60 % of my time was spent on ECHS ! Political parties cannot do it - it is the Area HQ who has to.
Warm regards,
Jose
Lt Col R Subramanian writes:
Dear Sundar
You are right
Veterans here do not understand the problems of ESM. They merrily play tombola and eat to their content
Regards
Lt Col R Subramanian
Col Unnithan writes:
Dear Col,
ATNK &K AREA IS FLUISHED EITH ESM WELFARE FUND IN CRORES RECIVED FROM ESM CANTEENS ALL OVER SOUTHERN INDIA.
SUGGEST TO SEND THE MISERY OF POLY CLINICS TO THE NEW GOC.
WHEN I WAS THE COLONEL 'A', THEN GOC HAD SANCTIONED ABOUT 5 CRORES FROM ESM WELFARE FUND FOR SETTING UP THE BASIC AMENITIES IN 48 POLY CLICNIS SANCTIONED IN 2003 FOR THE 4 SOUTHERN STATES.
ESM FUND IS EATEN AWAY BY OTHERS. MAKE A STRONG REPRESENTATION TO GOC. I CAN BE OF SOME USE PLS LET ME KNOW.
REGDS,
Unnithan
Lt Col Clarence G Manickam
Dear Col Sundar,
The ECH in Chennai is also bad and it needs your kind intervention. I had a bad experience with ECH and I had conveyed my bad experience with Area Hqs and even to the MD. They always support the Staff and pay no heeds to us. Any way I get my medical review done every year at Apollo under my own arrangements.
In ECH, Chennai we have a disgruntled Medical Specialist working for Rs 40000/pm. Where as a good medical specialist will not come for anything less than Rs 75,000/pm. I am aware of all this as my daughter completed MD recently and is employed for Rs 60,000/pm. Duty Doctors/Emergency Doctors are paid Rs 35-400000/ for 8 Hrs duty plus OT. The pharmacist (B Pharm) is paid Rs 15-20000/pm. Recently retd MNS Lt Col has been employed for Rs 40000/pm in the hospital where my daughter is working. T4 it is very clear that ECH cannot function like a MI Room. It is high time they pull up their socks otherwise they will be pulled up thru media.
Regds,
Clarence G Manickam Lt Col (Retd)
