Toothless committee formed to end protest at Insurance Board

KATHMANDU:

The Ministry of Finance has formed a three-member committee to broker talks with employees of the Insurance Board (IB), the insurance sector regulatory body, who have launched protests demanding strengthening of governance at the Board, hike in dearness allowance and assurance of better career growth prospects.

The committee formed under Chief of Economic Policy Analysis Division at the ministry, Navraj Bhandari, however, is unlikely to settle the dispute at the regulatory body as it only has the mandate to address the concerns related to good governance raised by employees.

The trade union, on the other hand, is saying it will not end its protest programme unless all of the demands are addressed.

The employees of the Board had started protests on June 23 placing 26-point demand, which the management had previously agreed to fulfil. However, the strike did not have much impact on the works of the Board initially, as it was limited to attending the workplace wearing black armbands, among others.

But on July 17, the trade union upped the ante and completely halted works at the Board.

“All the employees in the Board, except those working in the management level, have joined the protest programme and we won’t resume work unless our demands are addressed,” said Chief of the Employees Association at the Board, Shambhu Mishra.

Although the management-level employees have not joined the protest, works at the regulatory body, which not only monitors works of insurance companies but also functions as a primary-level court for resolution of disputes on claim settlement, have come to a complete halt.

The employees are basically demanding 29.7 per cent hike in their salaries as per the recommendation made by the Salary and Allowance Revision Committee at the Board. The hike demanded by workers is based on rise in consumer prices of the last three years.

Although the board of directors of the Insurance Board has already approved the increment demanded by employees, the management has been saying it cannot implement the decision on its own until the Ministry of Finance endorses the proposal.

Among others, the employees are also demanding hike in per day lunch allowance to Rs 100 from existing Rs 1,000 per month. They are also pressing the management to raise education cost of children of Board employees from Rs 600 per month per child to Rs 1,000 per month per child.

Along with hike in allowances, the employees are also demanding assurance of better career development prospects.

In this regard, the trade union is pressing the management to immediately promote two of the staff members to the post of deputy director and three others, including Mishra, to the post of officer. According to officials at the Board, they were previously denied promotion when most of the other staff members were given advancement in ranks.

Among others, the employees are demanding that the corporate governance at the Board be strengthened.

This includes investigation into the Board’s decision to park around Rs 1.28 billion in low-yielding call and current accounts rather than in high-yielding savings and fixed deposit accounts. This decision, the trade union claims, caused losses of several million rupees to the Board.

The committee formed under Bhandari is expected to give a report on breaches of governance norms by the management within the next 15 days.

Source: THT