Welfare Schemes for Postal Employees

Welfare Schemes for Postal Employees

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I) Financial Assistance in case of death of Postal Employees

At present financial assistance of Rs. 10,000/- ( Rupees Ten thousand) only is payable as immediate death relief as per the orders dated 31.01.2018. There is no upper pay limit for payment of immediate death relief.
The financial assistance in this case is payable to the next of the kin of the deceased person. It should be ensured that the admissible financial assistance be paid to the family of the deceased at the earliest after receipt of the information about the death.

II) Financial Assistance in case of death of Postal Employees due to terrorist activity / dacoits etc while on duty

At present in cases of death of Postal employees due to attack by terrorists/robbers/dacoits while on duty, an aggregate amount inclusive of immediate death relief, of Rs. 75,000/- is admissible as financial assistance of the bereaved family. In such cases, after payment of the immediate death relief the matter is to be referred to the Department for payment of the residual amount from the Central Welfare Fund. In such cases it must be ensured that the death of the person concerned has happened while performing the official duties and the amount should be paid to the person entitled to receive the amount. The residual amount is paid by the Postal Welfare Board through the Circle Welfare Fund.

III) Financial assistance in case of death of Postal Employees while on duty due to accidents

Where death of Postal employees occurs while on duty due to some accident, an amount of Rs. 15,000/- is payable to the next of the kin of the deceased person.

IV) Financial assistance in case of death of Postal Employees

by terrorist, robbers activity etc while not on duty.

At present if a Postal employee is murdered by terrorist / robbers etc while not on duty financial assistance of Rs. 15,000/- is payable to the bereaved family.

V) Financial assistance in cases of natural calamities, fire and floods.

Financial assistance of Rs. 4500/- ( Rupees Four thousand five hundred) only is payable to the departmental employees affected by fire, floods and natural calamities. The financial assistance is to be provided only to those who were seriously burnt by fire, whose property has been really damaged by floods and whose children books have been destroyed. All cases of financial assistance in case of natural calamities should be thoroughly scrutinized with reference to the aforesaid parameters in addition to a certificate from the Revenue Authorities.

All the claims should be strictly got verified personally by deputing officers of the

appropriate level so as to ensure correctness of verification, and financial assistance in these cases be granted where there has been really substantial damage to the immovable property. No financial assistance should be granted in cases where there is no damage to the property /books of children etc. even if the area has been declared flood affected by the revenue authorities. In case subsequent to the verification, the irregularities are found, the verifying officer should be held responsible.

However when natural calamities of unprecedented scale happen as in the case of super cyclone in Orissa and earth quake in Gujarat, the situation is considered by the Department at the appropriate level and financial assistance extended as decided. In such case the financial assistance should be granted by the Circle promptly as per the specific orders received from the Directorate.

VI) Financial assistance in cases of prolonged and serious illness/major surgeries for Departmental Employees.

Heads of Circles have been delegated financial powers to sanction financial assistance from the Circle Welfare Fund under their discretionary power upto Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten thousand) only in each case of proven exceptional hardship relating to serious or prolonged illness or major surgical operations like cancer, heart operation or renal failures for postal employees or their dependents.

The Financial assistance in such cases is sanctioned out of the discretionary grant, which, at present, is 10% of the total grant allocated to the Circle during the year. Hence these powers should be exercised in deserving cases to ensure that the discretionary grant is not exceeded.

This grant is in addition to the amount of the financial assistance admissible for the periods of extra ordinary leave or half pay leave on medical grounds. This financial assistance from the Circle Welfare Fund is for the purpose of meeting the incidental expenses like diet, cost of treatment, transport etc. and is not to be granted as part of medical reimbursement which is covered under the Medical Attendance Rules.

Postal employees who undergo treatment in private hospitals or nursing homes on their own should not be reimbursed medical expenses from the welfare fund.
Each case of financial assistance should be decided on merits.         

Financial assistance beyond Rs. 10,000/- in cases of illness etc of Government employees.

            In rare and exceptionally deserving cases where it is considered necessary to provide additional financial assistance beyond Rs. 10,000/-, such cases are to be referred to the Postal Directorate for consideration of grant of financial assistance from the Central Welfare Fund. While forwarding such cases, the following are to be kept in view : -

• Such cases should have personal recommendation of the concerned Chief PMG indicating specific amount of assistance recommended from the Central Welfare Fund.
• Copies of the Medical Report and estimate of the cost of treatment should be enclosed.
• Information regarding total expenditure on treatment, amount reimbursed, financial assistance already given from the Circle Welfare Fund should be furnished.
• Financial position of the concerned employees should also be indicated.
• Whether the treatment has been taken from the Govt. Hospital. If not, reason for taking treatment from private hospital be explained in detail
• Expenditure on essential incidentals like transport, diet, etc. should be indicated.
• Any other relevant information.
•  In the first instance, all such cases should be considered under CGHS or Civil Services (MA) Rules for medical reimbursement of the cost of treatment and no case should be sent to the Directorate without aforesaid consideration and it should be clearly indicated so in the forwarding letter.

VII) Financial assistance for regular employees suffering from TB also for their family members.

a. Indoor patients : Such employees who are hospitalized for treatment of TB for fairly long period and remain on leave with half pay or leave without pay and also have to continue on such leave even after discharge from the hospital may be given financial assistance of Rs. 400/- p.m. (Rupees Four hundred only) after discharge from the hospital subject to a maximum of six months, for nutritive diet.

b. OPD TB Patients : Financial assistance of Rs. 200/- p.m. ( Rupees Two hundred only) for a maximum period of six months for the purposes of nutritive diet may also be granted to OPD TB patients. This assistance will be paid from the date of application or the date on which the disease becomes 3 months old whichever is later. This assistance will be admissible on the production of medical certificate from a Medical officer of a Govt. Hospital or a TB Sanatorium.
In case of such patients who are hospitalized but on discharge are not on EOL or HPL but continue the treatment as outdoor patient after discharge from the hospital, the financial assistance @ Rs. 200/- pm for a period of 6 months may be given as admissible to OPD TB patients.

It may however, be noted that this financial assistance will be granted only once for a maximum period of 6 months. However, this assistance will be in addition to the financial assistance, if any, granted for the period of EOL/HPL.

c. Dependent family members of the postal employees who are suffering from TB are covered under the head “Grant of Financial assistance due to prolonged illness” and Heads of Circles are delegated with the powers to sanction financial assistance under their discretionary powers up to Rs. 10,000/- in each case of proven exceptional hardships resulting from serious or prolonged illness to the Postal employees or their dependents, taking into consideration other conditions such as meeting incidental expenses like diet, cost of treatment and transport etc., which is not covered under medical reimbursement under CS(MA) Rules.

VIII) Grant of Financial assistance for Extra ordinary leave & Half Pay Leave due to prolonged illness.

Financial assistance as indicated below may be granted to the Postal Employees who had to avail extra ordinary leave or half pay leave on Medical Certificate due to serious / prolonged illness or major surgical operations : -

a. Extra ordinary leave Rs. 1500/- p.m.
b. Half Pay Leave Rs. 750/- p.m.

The above assistance is uniformly applicable to all Postal employees getting maximum pay upto Rs. 65,200/- per month.

The Financial assistance in these cases is granted subject to the following terms and conditions : -

a) Disease should be more than two months old. However, in case of relapse of the same disease in the same case the condition of two months period will not be applicable
b) The period of Extra Ordinary leave and half pay leave should be 30 days or more
c) The assistance will be given for a maximum period of 36 months renewable at intervals of every six months.
d) The assistance may be continued for a period of one month after the official joins duties.

The Financial assistance for Extra Ordinary leave and half pay leave availed by a Government Servant up to the date of invalidation / retirement can be paid to the Govt. servant concerned on receipt of application from the concerned official. However, in case of death of the employee the Financial assistance as mentioned above may be paid to the bereaved family as in case of immediate death relief.

IX Financial assistance for purchase of Mechanical / Motorized Tricycle for Orthopedically handicapped Departmental employees.

As per the above orders handicapped employees are entitled to financial assistance up to Rs. 15,000/- (Rupees Fifteen thousand only) or 50% of the cost. Of the Motorized Tricycle whichever is less, from the Circle Welfare Fund.

In addition to the above, financial assistance to the extent of 75% of the cost of artificial limb/Wheel chair / Orthopaedic Tricycle subject to the maximum of Rs. 1,000/- can be sanctioned to the employees or their dependents from the Circle Welfare Fund.

Actual IInd Class Railway Fare from the place of duty to the Artificial Limb Centre and back is also reimbursable from the Welfare Fund in cases of handicapped employees for provision of artificial limbs if such reimbursement is not admissible from any other source.

X Grant of educational assistance to the children of Postal Employees.

The educational assistance to the children of Postal employees is being extended as per the provisions contained in the Directorate letter dated 20th May, 1993 as amended by the subsequent letters mentioned above. In nutshell at present the scholarships are payable subject to the following conditions.

a) Minimum percentage for award of Technical Scholarships in 50% in the minimum qualifying examination on the basis of which candidate becomes eligible for the admission to the technical course in question.

b) The corresponding percentage for non-technical scholarship would be 60%.

c) There will be a relaxation of 10% marks for SCs/STs and low paid officials for grant of non-technical scholarship.

d) There will be no relaxation in the minimum percentage required to be obtained in the qualifying examination for award of scholarship for technical courses.

e) There will be no relaxation of 10% marks for OBCs candidates for grant of non-technical scholarship & school student awards, However, application for award of scholarship with relaxed standards for OBCs be entertained after all other eligible candidates have awarded the scholarship.

f) The merit list for scholarships will be prepared at circle level and a common merit list will be prepared in each category of the scholarship i.e. Technical Degree, Technical Diploma, Non-technical Degree, School Student Awards etc. The merit list will be prepared strictly on the basis of the marks obtained by the wares of the employees in the qualifying examination subject to reservations of scholarships for SCs/STs/OBCs and low paid employees as mentioned above.