Jaipur: Concerned about suicide of BLOs, RSS-affiliated teachers’ organization ABSRM writes to ECI
Jaipur: The Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM), an RSS-affiliated organization of teachers, has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding an extension of the deadline to complete the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) who have died during the process.
The SIR is currently going on in nine states as well as three Union Territories (UTs) and the ABRSM has expressed concern regarding the pressure on BLOs, which has allegedly led some officers to commit suicide.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the organization, in its strongly-worded letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, has called the workload on the BLOs ‘unethical’ and the targets ‘unrealistic’. It has said that the teachers who are working as BLOs are facing severe pressure as well as intimidation, calling the situation contrary to the dignity of elections and disrespectful towards teaching community.
While the ABSRM admits in its letter that the SIR is crucial for India’s democratic process, it adds that teachers have been faithfully fulfilling the duty they are assigned in relation to elections. It clarifies that BLOs have been struggling to fulfill their duty as the SIR has put on them an excessive workload of 16-18 hours of daily field and portal work to be completed without technical facilities. This has led to an increase in depression and stress among the BLOs and their suicide, the organization explained to the ECI.
It has told the CEC in the letter, “Abusive behavior by officials has led to severe mental stress among BLO teachers in several states. Sadly, some cases have even resulted in tragic suicides, which not only disturb the teaching community but also represent a clear violation of human rights.
The ABSRM has complained about the BLOs being intimidated through the pressure of having to meet unrealistic targets within a very short time. Several of the officers fear loss of salary, receiving show-cause notices, chargesheets, suspensions, threats of FIRs, and abusive behavior, it has told the CEC.
Referring to the problems the BLOs face on the field, the letter states that some voters do not have documents that are decades old and therefore do not cooperate with the BLOs. It has pointed out on the failure of the ECI in educating the voters about the SIR, as a result of which, many people find the survey unnecessary.
Pointing out that BLO deaths have been reported from the states undergoing SIR, the ABSRM states that, as per the Press Information Bureau (PIB), over 5.3 lakh BLOs, 7.64 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), 10,448 EROs/AEROs and 321 DEOs have been pressed into action spanning 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly Constituencies (ACs).
The organization has demanded that the ECI extend the deadline for completion of the survey, in order to make the SIR stress-free, accurate and also improve the quality.
It has also demanded Rs 1 crore as compensation and a government job for the kin of BLOs who have died prematurely or by suicide due to pressure from the SIR. ABRSM demands a high-level probe of all such cases should be and prosecution of the guilty officials.
Further, it has asked the CEC to provide technical assistants, computer operators, or associates, as well as tablets/laptops, travel allowances, etc. should also be provided to BLOs, while “officials should be given clear instructions to refrain from any kind of threats, harassment, abusive language or punitive action.”
ABRSM says that BLOs should be provided “respectable additional honorarium as per the workload and challenges” and that “additional BLOs should be deployed in inaccessible hilly, desert and remote areas.”
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CBI books ex-AAI chairman for corruption in contract for food and beverage operator at airports
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has registered a corruption case against former Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman V P Agarwal for allegedly favouring a consortium of airport-lounge operators and a company that runs popular fast-food chains across the country in the contract for operating food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13.
After three years of a preliminary enquiry into allegations of "cheating and gross misconduct", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also booked then Member (Finance) S Suresh, then Executive Director R Bhandari, lounge operators Travel Food Services Chennai Private Limited and Travel Food Services Kolkata Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited, which runs several fast-food chains in India.
The questions sent to the companies remained unanswered.
The case concerns tenders for the master concessionaire contract for food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13, officials said on Friday.
It is alleged that senior AAI officials engaged in gross misconduct, manipulated the tender process and made unauthorised changes to the terms and conditions of the master concessionaire contract in 2012-13 to favour the private parties.
The AAI had appointed IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (IIDC) as its consultant in August 2011 to help enhance non-aeronautical revenue, including earnings from food and beverage outlets, retail shops, advertising and car parking, at the Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Under the proposed master concessionaire model, a single agency would be awarded the contract to develop, operate and maintain all food and beverage outlets at each airport for 10 years to boost non-aeronautical revenue.
The CBI launched the enquiry in 2022 and submitted an extensive report material, suggesting cheating and a criminal conspiracy by public servants to extend undue benefits to private entities, prompting the agency to convert the enquiry into a formal case by filing an FIR.
The tender was a two-stage process. The first one was the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, with the shortlisted bidders moving to the finance stage in Request for Proposal (RFP).
According to the CBI, key terms in the RFQ were altered and conditions tweaked to favour certain companies at the RFP stage, and the minimum annual guarantee (MAG) was lowered and collusive bidding done by the two shortlisted bidders, who allegedly had conflicting interests.
The then Executive Director of the AAI, A K Mishra, had raised concerns about the collusive bidding and recommended recalling the tender with revised eligibility norms.
"However, the said apprehension was ignored deliberately by the accused public servants," the FIR says.
The FIR mentions the role of Amit Arora, who is under investigation in the Delhi excise policy case. However, he has not been named as an accused in this case.
"Amit Arora was also one of the prospective bidders at RFQ stage. On May 29, 2013, Amit Arora joined as Director of Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Devyani International Ltd.
"The entity, Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, was incorporated on April 18, 2013. Amit Arora got associated with one of the bidders, Devyani International Ltd, after RFQ stage but prior to RFP stage," the FIR has alleged.
The second shortlisted bidder was a consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and its subsidiary, Authentic Restaurants Private Limited.
"Amit Arora acquired 99.99 per cent shares of Authentic Restaurants Pvt. Ltd and had also joined it as Additional Director," the FIR has alleged.
The CBI said the bids of the two shortlisted contenders were "nearly same and just higher than the mandatory minimum annual guarantee", with the consortium emerging as the H-1 bidder.
The enquiry found that Arora had direct and indirect interests in both bidders, which should have led to their disqualification.
"But, the Master Concessionaire Contracts were awarded to newly formed companies ... and the shareholders in both the companies who participated in the bidding process were same," the agency said.
According to the FIR, the bidders failed to inform the AAI about the changes in the ownership and shareholding, violating the undertakings submitted at the RFQ stage and creating a conflict of interest.
The enquiry showed that the Commercial Advisory Board (CAB) of the AAI was given three separate options for fixing the MAG for the Kolkata and Chennai airports, but it chose the lowest of the three options for both airports.
"Enquiry revealed that MAG was to be decided in a rational manner to achieve
optimum revenue for AAI. However, the accused public servant, in criminal conspiracy with private persons, deliberately and in order to facilitate undue benefits, ignored the opinion of consultant and opted for much lower amount," the CBI has said.
All these changes helped the consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and Authentic Restaurants Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited to emerge as shortlisted and the only bidders at the RFQ stage for both airports.
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