Retired employees will get the Central Government Health Scheme facility for their OPD requirement and National Health Insurance Scheme for their hospitalisation requirements,” a top government official told the paper. The airline has around 50,000 retired staff in total
New Delhi:
The government has finalised a solution to provide medical insurance to the 30,000 retired staff members of Air India who had opted for the post-retirement medical scheme, a huge relief for the ex-workers as this was not among the pre-conditions for transfer of the airline to the Tata Group.
“Retired employees will get the Central Government Health Scheme facility for their OPD requirement and National Health Insurance Scheme for their hospitalisation requirements,” a top government official told the paper. The airline has around 50,000 retired staff in total.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
The Centre assured retired staff of medical benefits and all existing employees of job protection for 12 months from the transfer. The airline has 10,000 employees on roll with around 5,000 set to retire over the next five years.
Staff concerns
Earlier, Moneycontrol reported that the government had said it is actively discussing ways to address the concerns of the staff.
“The ministerial panel on Air India has in the past agreed to most demands of Air India’s employees and we are discussing ways to help employees relocate as well,” an official involved in the process had told Moneycontrol.
He was referring to the government’s decision to agree in principle to Air India employees’ demands to bear the cost of liquidation loss on account of the transfer of the provident fund to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation from company-owned trusts, the inclusion of employees in the central government health scheme, and encashment of leaves.
As part of its deal to sell Air India to the Tata Group, the government has also ensured that Tata Sons will have to retain all employees of the airline for one year as part of the share purchase agreement signed for the sale of Air India.
The Tata Group will have the option to offer employees of Air India a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) if they look to retrench employees after one year.
The official added that the government has come up with multiple plans to help Air India’s employees.
The government is also working on a plan to reinstate the salaries and allowances of Air India’s pilots in a phased manner and is looking to offer some shares of Air India before handing it over to the new owners.
But a final decision on this has yet to be taken.
Takeover delayed
In December it emerged that Tata Group’s takeover of loss-making national carrier Air India was most likely delayed by a month till January as the completion of procedures were taking longer than expected.
As per the conditions in the share purchase agreement, all formalities of handover would have to be completed within 8 weeks, but this date can be mutually extended by the buyer and seller and is being done in this case. However, some regulatory approvals are yet to come in for the handover, and certain formalities are yet to be completed, the official, who wished not to be named, told PTI.
In October, the government accepted the highest bid made by a Tata Sons company for 100 per cent equity shares of Air India and Air India Express along with its 50 per cent stake in ground-handling company AISATS — the first privatisation in 20 years.
At that time, the government had stated that it wanted to complete the transactions, which included Tatas paying Rs 2,700 crore in cash, by December-end.