Minutes of the Spl Management Committee

BOMBAY SAPPERS ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF THE SPL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MEETING (MCM) HELD ON 31 JAN 2012

Spl MCM was held in Hall of General on 31 Jan 2012. Following were present :-

(a)Maj Gen V K Bhatt,SM,VSM,-Chairman

(b)Brig Balraj Singh-Vice Chairman

(c)Maj Gen SCN Jatar (Retd)-Hony Gen Secy

(d)Maj Gen SG Pitre (Retd)-Member

(e)Brig S Dandekar (Retd)-Director, BSA

(f)Col A K Mitra-Secy-cum-Treasurer

(g)ColMukesh Chopra -Member

(h)Col Arvind Kumar-OIC BSA/Accounts Offr

(j)Sub/Maj M Anbuchezhiyan -Asst Secy

(k)Col CJ Rego-In attendance

2.Strength of members who have paid membership fees, as on 30 Jan 2012, is:-

(a) Offrs – 1219

(b) JCO – 2302

(c)OR – 37766

Total – 41287

3.Paraplegic Bombay Sappers.

(a)BSA has initiated a case to help those retd Bombay Sappers who are paraplegic. So far, 16 names have been received after contacting units, QMTI and PRC. A format was sent to all paraplegics to find out their needs. They were guided to approach AHQ (AG’s Branch) for assistance as per existing instructions. In addn, a board of offrs was ordered to recommend financial assistance from BSA. In all Rs 1,97,500/- have been sanctioned for all 16 paraplegics; amounts ranging from Rs 10000/- to Rs 15000/- depending upon their needs and financial position.

(b)It was decided that more efforts must be put in through the office of Col Comdt and Record Office to locate maximum number of paraplegic Bombay Sappers.

(c)Names of those JCO/ORs who have not received any help from AG’s Branch should be given to the Chairman so that their cases can be progressed.

(d)A decision was also taken to help new paraplegics on yearly basis to the extent possible.

4.Edn Scholarships.

(a)The existing SOP is based on aggregate marks received by each child in the final exam of the class and there is fixed number of vacancies for each class. However, from this year, a new SOP has been made to cater for grade system. The SOP also caters for those students who are being given marks based on percentage. Cut off % and Grade for JCO’s children are 81% and A2 and for OR’s children these are 65% and B2.

(b) Total applications received : 600.

(d) Applications where only “marks” were mentioned: JCOs139 OR 225.

(e) Scholarships awarded :-

….2/-

(i) JCO’s children : 117

(ii) OR’s children : 386

(iii) Ratio of JCO:OR : 1: 3.29

(f)Total amount given : Rs 3,72,300/-

5.Grant to Children of Widows for Edn.

(a) After assessing the number of affected widows/children and availability of donations received, it was decided by the Vice-Chairman that BSA should plan to give Rs 2400/ - per child as grant to be given to a widow (max two children) as help for edn of children this year. It is hoped that, if donations continue to come every year, the grant to the same widows may continue year after year till the child passes 12th std.

(b) The Bd of Offr held for the purpose has recommended 173 children to be given Rs 2400/- this year. 107 widows will be benefited. The assistance is being routed through Nodal Offrs as directed by the Col Comdt.

(c)No of applications received after Bd of Offrs completed the bd are 60. These will be considered in the next bd.

(d) Donors were linked with recipients, where possible, in such a manner that both belonged to the same regt. Donors and recipients were also informed.

(e)It was suggested that a standard format should be made and sent to all “potential” donors once a year to encourage them to donate as is done by agencies like CRY etc at appropriate time.

6.Edn Grant against Loan for Higher Edn.

(a) A bd of offrs was held to examine applications received for the purpose. Only two children from engineering stream met the criteria laid down in our SOP and they are being given ‘grant against loan’.

(b) One daughter of a Hav who qualified in MH CTC for medical and got admission in B J Medical College Pune, could not be given ‘grant against loan’as she did not appear for AFMC entrance Exam. The Hav then put up an application to Maj Gen A L Suri, AVSM (Retd) who very kindly agreed to give the Hav Rs 33000/-, an amount equal to ‘grant against loan’.

(c) It was suggested by Maj Gen S G Pitre (Retd) that there is no need to really stick to such rules in the larger interest. However, it was felt by all that it is better to follow the laid down policies.

7.Assistance by Col V Marwaha (Retd).

(a) Nk D R Kudke of 103ER requested BSA for financial assistance for edn of his wife who wanted to do MBA. BSA approached Col Marwaha who is running two mgmt institutes for help. He very kindly admitted her in his institute for MBA from PuneUniversity and did not charge almost 50% of fee which is approx Rs 60,000/-.

(b) It was pointed out by the Chairman that Col Marwaha has promised to give three such vacancies every year for Bombay Sappers and BSA should take advantage of this.

…..3/-

8.Donations.

(a) Lt Gen N Thamburaj, PVSM, SM (Retd) is donating Rs 12000/- per year for help to widow. BSA suggested name of Mrs Anita More, wife of Late N/Sub Kailash More from his Regt and as per his wishes Rs 12000/- have been paid as fees for children of Mrs More in APS (BEG).

(b) Col M M Bhushan and Col Mukesh Chopra have each donated Rs 12000/- to orphans to cater for their expenditure at GBA.

(c) Brig B K Kohli (Retd), Dir BSA (NR) has sent donation worth Rs 3.66 lacs so far this year for edn of children of widows including a cheque of Rs 80,000/- received as donation from Brig Gobindar Singh (Retd). Large sums have also been given by retd and serving offrs. List of such donors is attached as Appx.

9.Welfare of ElderlyBombay Sappers. In past few months, three very elderly Bombay Sappers came to BSA for financial assistance. They all were provided Rs 6000/ as distress grant. These ESM were:-

(a)Ex Sapper Dara Singh from Taran Taran

(b)Ex Sapper Bhag Singh from Bhatinda

(c)Ex Sapper Machhindra Desai from Maharashtra.

10.Help to Orphans. One orphan Master Arjan Dev is already being looked after by GBA through the contributions from parent regt, Col M M Bhushan, BSA and GBA. Similarly another orphan Master Sukhvinder Singh is being cared through the contributions from his father’s regt (267 ER), Col M Chopra (also from 267 ER), BSA and GBA.

11.Extending Help to Widows. There was good response from Punjab when BSA reached out to widows in 2009, but for some reason, there were less number of applications from Maharashtra. BSA, therefore sent out 600 letters again and the response is started coming. These applications are being put through Bd of offrs for financial assistance.

12.Royal Bombay Sapper. BSA received an e-mail from Mr Richard Clarke that his father had served in the Royal Bombay Sappers for 34 years till 1954 through World War II. He joined as Sapper but rose to become a Major and retired in 1954. He has also sent some old photographs. All this info has been sent to Gp Adjt for archives.

13.Late 2Lt BS Sengupta.

(a) St Paul School of Belgaum observed Martyr Day on 07 Dec 2011 to remember late 2 Lt Sengupta of 103 ER, who was a student of the school. The offr laid down his life performing his duties in71 Ops on 07 Dec.

(b) Info about the offr and the incident was collected from Gp HQs and retired offrs of 103 Engr Regt, in particular Lt Col V K Nair (who was the Adjt then) and Lt Gen Ashok Joshi ( who took over the regt immediately after the war). A write up and a message from the Comdt were sent to the school.

(c)It is a matter of pride that the school has remembered a brave Bombay Sapper on the 40th Anniversary of 71 Ops.

(d)Some photographs sent by the school were displayed.

…..4/-

14.Jor Mela. This year, the Jor mela was conducted at Pune. A large number of ESM attended.Their difficulties were resolved. BSA put up info board to show career opportunities for children who are in schools. All members can query on info about career with BSA. Letters for the purpose have been sent to all units.

15.Budget Presentation.

(a) The present state of budget was shown on the screen. It was pointed out that approx Rs 7.0 lac will be required for carrying out welfare activities till 31 Mar 2012. Normally, this amount would have been available from the interest on FDs of the corpus. However, this year, BSA has made long term investments in bank FDs to get maximum benefits of higher interest rates. Due to this reason, all interest on corpus would not be available during this financial year itself. It was proposed that this amount (approx Rs 7.0 lacs) can be taken from savings of previous years ( Rs 17,51,831/-). The other option is to break long term bank FDs.

(b) Honorary General Secretary Maj Gen SCN Jatar (retd) informed that surplus amount can be taken for expenditure in subsequent years but this amount has to be spent within the time frame of three years. This should be done in consultation with the Auditor and so reflected in the Audit Report.

(d) Chairman suggested that all FDs should be reviewed towards the end of financial year to examine the possibilities of re-investing them to earn maximum interest.

16.Publishing of Book about History of the Centre.

(a) The Chairman informed all present that Col C J Rego has put in a lot of effort to collate info about history of the Centre. There is now a need to publish a book on this subject, as no such comprehensive book is available as of now. However, the publication of this book will cost about Rs 10 lacs.

(b) It was proposed by the Chairman that this amount be spent from the funds of BSA since the book will be of immense use to foster “esprit de corps” among all Bombay Sappers. Honorary General Secretary Maj Gen SCN Jatar (retd) felt that spending money for publishing such a book will fall under the charter of BSA. Maj Gen S G Pitre (retd) also supported the views.

(c) Honorary General Secretary Maj Gen SCN Jatar (retd) brought out that while sanctioning this amount, proper justification must be given out as to how this book will meet the ‘objective of the trust’. He also suggested that while spending funds for publishing the book, proper accounting process must be followed.

(d) The Chairman directed that a bd of offrs be ordered to bring out these aspects.

(e) It was decided by the Management Committee that Rs 10 lac be ear marked for publishing a book of history of Bombay Sappers and further action should be only taken afterprocess mentioned at sub-para (c) and (d) is completed.

……5/-

17.Coaching Children of Bombay Sappers for NDA. Honorary General Secretary Maj Gen SCN Jatar (retd) pointed out that his Charitable Trust is prepared to give Rs 10 lac for coaching of children of Bombay Sappers for NDA entrance exam and SSB. However, he wanted a structured proposal from BEG. Maj Gen S G Pitre(retd) suggested that a committee be formed to take a holistic view and to suggest the road fwd. He volunteered to head the committee.

18.Updating and re-designing the BSA web-site. Chairman informed that as per his directions, the BSA web-site is being up-dated regularly. However, it could be re-designed so that it could be more informative highlighting the achievements of Bombay Sappers.

(S Dandekar)

Brig (Retd)

Director BSA

For Vice-Chairman

10002/MGT/BSA

Bombay Sappers Association

C/o Headquarters

Bombay Engineer Group & Centre

Kirkee, Pune- 411003

12 Jul 2012

Distribution:-

Chairman, Bombay Sappers Association

Vice- Chairman, Secy-Cum- Treasurer

Honorary Gen Secretary

MCM Members,

All Major/ Minor Units

BSA Web Site

Appx

LIST OF DONORS

Lt Gen A N Sinha,PVSM, AVSM, (Retd), Lt Col Hira Lal Singh (Retd), Lt Col RC Sharma (Retd), Brig Jagdev Singh (Retd), Maj Gen JM Rai, AVSM (Retd), Capt KK Dewal (Retd), Brig AS Sharma (Retd), Brig MK Sardana, VSM (Retd), Lt Col JR Sharma (Retd), Lt Col VK Gupta (Retd), Brig AK Sahni (Retd), Lt Col Satish Kumar (Retd), Lt Col Sunil Kumar (Retd), Lt Col Sirajuddin (Retd), Lt Col JK Malhotra (Retd), Lt Col SP Mundra (Retd), Col KM Hinduja (Retd), Brig Jitendra Dixit (Retd), Lt Col MK Khosla (Retd), Brig AK Soni (Retd), Col SK Bhatia (Retd), Capt OP Bhardwaj (Retd), Col SS Grewal (Retd), Lt Col Hasan Muzaffar, SM (Retd), Lt Col RP Sarathi (Retd), Brig SB Joshi (Retd), Col Rajinder Kumar (Retd), Brig Tejpal Singh Choudhary (Retd), Lt Col Viresh Ohri (Retd), Lt Col Yogendra Prakash (Retd), Brig Naresh Chandra (Retd), Lt Col DS Agarwal (Retd), Brig Mastinder Singh (Retd), Lt Gen Prakash Suri, PVSM (Retd), Brig Sudarshan Hasabnis (Retd), Col Ajay Kumar Dewan (Retd), 108 Engr Regt, Lt Col VB Mudkavi, Brig S Dandekar (Retd), Brig Rajiv Divekar (Retd), Col Neeraj Gosain, Lt Col Naveen Sawhney, Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj, PVSM,SM (Retd), Smt Usha Dixit W/O Late Lt Col AK Dixit, Col, MM Bhushan (Retd), Col SK Lamba (Retd), Brig SS Mullick (Retd), Lt Col RM Khanna (Retd) and Col Mukesh Chopra, Chawla Sanitation & Hardware, Shri RS Raghav, Advocate, Shri RS Bhati, Optima Releators Pvt Ltd, Ankan Design & Prints Pvt Ltd, Radiant Estate, Dream Estate Property, Mordern Bath World(Retd), NK Trading, Ashish Electronic, Beauty Stores Surnishing, Krishna Traders, Shri Rajesh Kharabanda, Mrs Surinder KP Singh, Dr Manjot Kaur.

Appx

LIST OF DONORS

S,No / Name of Donors / Remarks
Lt Gen A N Sinha, PVSM, AVSM, (Retd)
LtCol Hira Lal Singh (Retd)
LtCol RC Sharma (Retd)
Brig Jagdev Singh (Retd)
Maj Gen JM Rai, AVSM (Retd)
Capt KK Dewal (Retd)
Brig AS Sharma (Retd)
Brig MK Sardana, VSM (Retd)
LtCol JR Sharma (Retd)
LtCol VK Gupta (Retd)
BrigAK Sahni (Retd)
LtCol Satish Kumar (Retd)
LtCol Sunil Kumar (Retd)
LtCol Sirajuddin (Retd)
LtCol JK Malhotra (Retd)
LtCol SP Mundra (Retd)
Col KM Hinduja (Retd)
Brig Jitendra Dixit (Retd),
LtCol MK Khosla (Retd)
BrigAK Soni (Retd)
Col SK Bhatia (Retd)
Capt OP Bhardwaj (Retd)
Col SS Grewal (Retd)
LtCol Hasan Muzaffar, SM (Retd)
LtCol RP Sarathi (Retd)
Brig SB Joshi (Retd)
Col Rajinder Kumar (Retd)
Brig Tejpal Singh Choudhary (Retd)
LtCol Viresh Ohri (Retd)
LtCol Yogendra Prakash (Retd)
Brig Naresh Chandra (Retd)
LtCol DS Agarwal (Retd),
Brig Mastinder Singh (Retd)
Lt Gen Prakash Suri, PVSM (Retd)
Brig Sudarshan Hasabnis (Retd)
Col Ajay Kumar Dewan (Retd)

, , , , , , , , , , , , , 108 Engr Regt, Lt Col VB Mudkavi, Brig S Dandekar (Retd), Brig Rajiv Divekar (Retd), Col Neeraj Gosain, Lt Col Naveen Sawhney, Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj, PVSM,SM (Retd), Smt Usha Dixit W/O Late Lt Col AK Dixit, Col, MM Bhushan (Retd), Col SK Lamba (Retd), Brig SS Mullick (Retd), Lt Col RM Khanna (Retd) and Col Mukesh Chopra, Chawla Sanitation & Hardware, Shri RS Raghav, Advocate, Shri RS Bhati, Optima Releators Pvt Ltd, Ankan Design & Prints Pvt Ltd, Radiant Estate, Dream Estate Property, Mordern Bath World(Retd), NK Trading, Ashish Electronic, Beauty Stores Surnishing, Krishna Traders, Shri Rajesh Kharabanda, Mrs Surinder KP Singh, Dr Manjot Kaur.

LIST OF DONORS FOR THE YEAR 2011-2012

Ser No / Name of donor’s / Remarks
1. / LtCol Hira Lal Singh(Retd)
2. / LtCol RC Sharma(Retd)
3. / Brig Jagdev Singh(Retd)
4. / Maj Gen JM Rai,AVSM(Retd)
5. / Lt Gen AN Sihna, PVSM,AVSM, ADC(Retd)
6. / Capt KK Dewal(Retd)
7 / Brig AS Sharma (Retd)
8. / Brig MK Sardana ,VSM(Retd)
9. / LtCol JR Sharma(Retd)
10. / LtCol VK Gupta(Retd)
11. / BrigAK Sahni (Retd)
12. / LtCol Satish Kumar (Retd)
13. / LtCol Sunil Kumar(Retd)
14. / LtCol Sirajuddin (Retd)
15. / LtCol JK Malhotra (Retd)
16. / LtCol SP Mundra(Retd)
17. / Col KM Hinduja (Retd)
18. / Chawla Sanitation & Hardware
19. / Shri RS Raghav, Advocate
20. / Shri RS Bhati
21. / Optima Releators Pvt Ltd
22. / Ankan Design & Prints Pvt Ltd
23. / Radiant Estate
24. / Dream Estate Property
25. / Mordern Bath World(Retd)
26. / NK Trading
27. / Ashish Electronic
28. / Beauty Stores Surnishing
29. / Krishna Traders
30. / Brig Jitendra Dixit(Retd)
31. / Shri Rajesh Kharabanda
32 / Mrs Surinder KP Singh
33 / LtCol MK Khosla (Retd)
34. / BrigAK Soni(Retd)
35 / Col SK Bhatia(Retd)

Ser No / Name of donor’s / Remarks
36. / Dr Manjot Kaur
37. / Capt OP Bhardwaj(Retd)
38. / Col SS Grewal (Retd)
39. / LtCol Hasan Muzaffar, SM(Retd)
40. / LtCol RP Sarathi (Retd)
41. / Brig SB Joshi(Retd)
42. / 421 (I) Engr Sqn
43. / Col Rajinder Kumar (Retd)
44. / Brig Tejpal Singh Choudhary(Retd)
45. / LtCol Viresh Ohri (Retd)
46. / LtCol Yogendra Prakash (Retd)
47 / Brig Naresh Chandra(retd)
48. / LtCol DS Agarwal (Retd)
49. / Brig Mastinder Singh(Retd)
50. / Brig Goindar Singh, AVSM(Retd)
51. / 814 CETC
52. / Lt Gen Prakash Suri, PVSM(Retd)
53 / Brig Sudarshan Hasabnis (Retd)
54. / Col Ajay Kumar Dewan (Retd)
55. / 108 Engr Regt
56 / LtCol VB Mudkavi
57 / Brig S Dandekar (Retd)
58 / Brig Rajiv Divekar(Retd)
59 / Col Neeraj Gosain
60. / LtCol Naveen Sawhney
61. / Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj,PVSM,SM(Retd)
62. / Smt Usha Dixit W/O Late LtCol AK Dixit
63. / Col MM Bhushan(Retd)
64. / Col SK Lamba(Retd)
65. / Brig SS Mullick(Retd)
66. / Lt Col RM Khanna(Retd)