The Canara Bank Syndicate Pensioners and Retirees Association (CBSPRA) held its Vijayawada circle general body meeting on Sunday. The meeting was organized by Circle Secretary D Seshagiri Rao and was attended by around 60 members from various districts. V Krishna Kumar, zonal secretary of Hyderabad, presided over the event and noted that CBSPRA has entered its 14th year with over 16,000 members. He also announced that a mass hunger strike-cum-dharna is scheduled to take place on August 5 at Indira Park, Hyderabad.
The chief guest, KBG Tilak, national deputy general secretary of the All India Bank Pensioners’ And Retirees’ Confederation (AIBPARC), addressed key issues affecting pensioners and retirees. He discussed the topic of pension updation, citing Regulation 35 (1) of the Bank Employees Pension Regulations, 1995, and highlighted that the pension corpus fund of public sector banks has exceeded Rs 4.27 lakh crore as of March 2024. He argued that this is sufficient to implement pension updation from March 1, similar to RBI Pensioners.
Tilak also discussed the issue of medical insurance, stating that the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has proposed revised base policies for retirees ranging from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, with a Rs 3 lakh super top-up. However, he reiterated AIBPARC’s demand that the annual premium for the base policy should be borne by the banks.
During the meeting, senior members of CBSPRA aged 75 and above, including Gummadi Sudhakar Rao, K Vijaya Babu, N Pullaiah, M Venugopala Reddy, Ch Pushpamma, and N Baburao, were honored with a shawl and a memento. Pasupuleti Butchibabu, a zonal committee member, was also felicitated for mobilizing 115 new members to CBSPRA in just two months. Regional secretaries D Prabhakara Rao and Y Prasad addressed the gathering, and P Narasimha Rao proposed a vote of thanks. The meeting provided a platform for pensioners and retirees to discuss their concerns and demands, and to recognize the contributions of senior members.