Postal scam: lower-level staff cry foul

All India Postal SC/ST Employees’ Welfare Association seeks justice to the aggrieved employees

Recovery of amount from lower-level employees while allowing the ‘prime accused’ to go scot-free in the ‘Rs.70- lakh postal scam’ came in for severe criticism from leaders of the SC/ST Employees’ Welfare Association.

The scam occurred at the MVP Colony Sub-Post Office between 2007- 09 and was detected in 2010.

A fact-finding team, comprising the All India Postal SC/ST Employees’ Welfare Association central secretary D. Nagendra Kumar, assistant circle secretary B.F. Das, State Disciplinary Committee executive member Bandi Ravi Ratna Kumar, Ambedkar Phule Vedika State president Nethala Ramesh Babu and Visakhapatnam Division secretary N. Demullu, made an inquiry into the scam.

Officials blamed

Giving details to the media at the RMS IQ Hall near the Railway Station here on Monday, the team members alleged that innocent lower-level employees were being victimised and the misappropriated funds being recovered from their salaries while no such recovery was being done from the prime accused. They said that even the higher officials were aware that the then Sub-Post Master D. Narasimha Prasad was wholly responsible for the fraud as the same was revealed during the internal inquiry conducted by the department.

They alleged that the higher officials had passed the blame on lower-level employees K. Annamani, Sri Krishna, L.Ch. Patrudu, Raja Rao and some others and initiated recovery of the misappropriated amount from their salaries. The retirement benefits of two employees – Livingstone and Subhadra – were withheld but no action was initiated for recovery of the amount from the main accused.

The leaders said that they would submit the report of their findings to the PMG, Visakhapatnam Region, later in the evening. “If the PMG fails to do justice to them in a week, we would approach the Chief PMG in Hyderabad.”

Ms. Annamani, who was present at the media conference, said that she was the Personal Assistant of the accused D.N. Prasad. She said that she and nine others were being victimised for no fault of theirs.

Replying to a query, she said that recovery was done for four months from her salary but was stopped after the aggrieved employees move the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).