Passing the Parcel

The Employee State Insurance Scheme in India is basically the compulsory medical and life insurance policy which organizations are supposed to take for all their employees earning less than Rs. 8000/- p.m. This is a Central government authority, and they are pretty well organized and so on, though in my estimation at best 20% of the total employees must be getting covered by this. Anyway, they recently came out with a new scheme of Unemployment Allowance whereby a wage earner covered by the scheme will get Rs. 1500/- per month for six months on termination of his employment of permanent closure of the factory. Great!

In order to obtain the allowance, the company which was paying the insurance has to give a letter to ESI informing them of the closure. Simple enough. We went to the ESI office three days after the negotiations with the workers to enquire at the ESI office. Since it was a new scheme which was just passed by Parliament, they hadn't heard of it, and eventually looked through all the new notifications and confirmed its existence. We were given the format for the letter to be given and we gave it within a week.

The workers who had failed to get employment elsewhere (or weren't covered by ESI in the new place) were supposed to apply for the scheme and get it certified by the District Labour Officer or the Factories Inspector (both State Government officials) certifying their unemployment. The Factories Inspector refused since they said they would "know for sure" that the factory was closed and the workers no longer employed, if it was sold! The workers then approached me to accompany them to the labour office. I went first with them, thinking that the DLO would be more sympathetic since they are there to protect the interests of the workers from "exploitation from capitalists". The concerned official was not there and we left a letter for him. The next visit, the officer said he had never heard of the scheme and would have to consult his superior in the state capital. Each subsequent visit led me to another officer, each of whom said someone else in the department has to take the decision or that should have been taken by the Factory Inspector.

I wanted to help my workers out, 1500 bucks a month would be a big deal for them, especially since several of the older workers were now thinking of starting small shops or such, with the retrenchment compensation and gratuity which we gave them, which would take them few months before getting them regular incomes. Anyway, I even got the ESI people to call the Labour Office and tell them of the scheme and even send them a letter but nothing has come of it yet. Nobody is willing to take up any responsibility for their actions and in the process innocent honest hardworking people are getting penalised. The ESI office had initially given a deadline of two months to complete the application process but are willing to relax it a bit since they know of the functionings of government departments, but I don't know how long it can be extended. I've asked the trade union to take it up, but they are no longer interested since our workers are not employed anymore and not therefore giving any crucial support to the union. Should I take it up to ministers or to the press?

Our One-Time Settlement proposal with the bank is in another phase of passing the parcel with carefully crafted letters going between the Asst. General Manager and our Branch Manager. The bank had conducted a new valuation done by a different person than the previous 3 valuations done by them. This guy was a civil engineer and came out with a valuation stating that the replacement cost for the machinery is twice the original valuations, which works out to around 40% more than the price of new machinery. We requested a fresh valuation of our assets done by a Mechanical Engineer, since we know the only bank approved Chartered Mechanical Engineer in town is the person who has done the previous three valuations. Anyway, the passing of the parcel:

1. Our letter to the bank requesting a new valuation
2. The branch manager's letter to the AGM requesting a new valuation and asking the AGM to suggest a valuator.
3. The AGM sent back a letter saying that the Manager choose a valuator himself.
4. The Manager then sent a letter back saying that we had requested a Mech Engr and that he didn't know who was on the Bank's panel.
5. The AGM sends back a letter with the panel members list.
6. The Manager then sends a letter saying he thinks that the only guy is the previous valuator so asks the AGM whether its ok to take another valuation.

I'm still waiting for the AGMs reply to that. The main tactic in the letters is to try and corner the other person to make a decision. I think the Manager has got the AGM cornered now, so he'll probably have to take the decision, unless he finds some way to counter it without any decision being taken...

The parcel keeps getting passed and just sit and wonder when the music will stop. Btw, the 6 letters above are only a very small excerpt in the total list of correspondances between us and the bank and between the bank's office. The full list is much, much longer...