BRIEF HISTORY (URC-CSD RELATION)

The Canteen Stores Department (CSD) has been in the service of the Defence Services for more than six decades. The Department that made a humble beginning with four Depots and a turnover of less than Rs. 48 Lakhs has grown to be the largest retail chain network in India with a record sales of more than Rs.7,255 Crore as on 31 Mar 2009.

Canteen Stores Department (CSD) was initially set-up as a Central Government Department by nationalizing the Canteen by disbanding Contractor Syndicate on 01 Jul 1942 with the charter to provide consumer store to the Indian troops and their families. On 01 Apr 1977, CSD was redesigned as a regular Government Department under the Ministry of Defence. CSD is a major welfare organization working for the personnel of the Armed Forces, Ex-servicemen and their families. With the passage of time, the other categories like serving Defence Civilians, CSD employees, General Reserve Engineers Force (GREF), Personnel of Coast Guard, Army Postal Services, Territorial Army, Defence Security Corps and Para Military Forces (while under the operational and administrative control of Army) have also been entitled for the canteen facilities.

CSD provides its consumers, all over the country, quality products of daily use at rats less than those prevailing in the market. These items are meant for sale to troops, ex-servicemen and their families.

CSD functions under the Ministry of Defence. It employs a few serving officers on deputation from the Armed Forces. However, the remaining workforce comprises civilian Central Government employees covered under CCS Rules.

CSD Head Office is located at Mumbai. The Department controls and manages its field operations through a network of 35 Area Depots located across the length and breadth of the country. These Depots have been grouped into five regions based on the Indian States and their contiguity. Accordingly, the Northern Region with its office at BD Bari (Jammu) covers the states of J&K and Punjab. The Western Region with its office at Delhi controls the Area Depots located in the state of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UT of Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Central Region has its office at Lucknow and it takes care of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal. The Eastern Region with its office at Narangi (Guwahati) controls the Area Depots located in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and the seven states in North-Eastern India. The Southern Region has its head office at Khadki and it controls the field operations in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Orissa and UT of A&N Islands.

Each region is commanded by a Regional Manager (RM). Each of the said regions has six to eight Area Depots under its control. The Area Depots are categorized as small, medium, large and extra large Depots depending upon their annual turnover and dependency. On an average, each Area Depot caters to about 100 URCs.

The Unit Run Canteens (URCs) serve as a vital link between the CSD and ultimate customers. The main role of URCs is to provide the day-to-day requirements of consumer goods and durables to the serving as well as retired defence personnel and their families at a price cheaper than the market. There are a total 3600 URCs functioning in India and are catering to the requirements of about 1.6 Crore entitled personnel. Almost 7000 civilian employees are working in URCs.


ORGANISATION OF CSD

ORGANISATION OF CSD

For a better appreciation of the Canteen Services vis-à-vis the part played by the Canteen Store Department, it is desirable to understand the composition and broad functions of various organs of the organization.




LOCATION AND CONTACT NUMBER

LOCATION AND CONTACT NUMBER



OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVES

The following are the main objectives of URC:

• Provide consumer goods of high quality to the serving as well as retired defence personnel and their families at prices cheaper than the prevailing market rates, as far as possible.

• Ensure that the level of consumer satisfaction is maintained at the maximum.

• Generate reasonable profitability to sustain the organization, permit growth and provide additional facilities for the serving as well as retired defence personnel and their families.

• Formulate and execute development programs to improve and maintain organizational effectiveness.

• Periodically analyze and assess the diverse long-term needs and aspirations of Defence Services and undertake timely measures to meet them.



INVENTORY GROUPING

INVENTORY GROUPING



TEN COMMANDMENTS

TEN COMMANDMENTS

RIGHTS OF CUSTOMERS

RIGHTS OF CUSTOMERS

You can demand:

• Testing of all consumer durables including electrical appliances, in your presence, and to your satisfaction.

• Guarantee cards duly filled signed and stamped by the Unit Run Canteen (URC).

• Replacement of faulty products within warranty period.

• Proper and efficient after-sales-services and URC’s intervention in case of complaints.

• Food articles with adequate shelf-life.

• Consumer promotion schemes as applicable.

• To see Pictorial Price List and Monthly Bulletins published by the CSD.

• Information on availability of items Against-Firm-Demand (AFD), like automobiles, televisions, refrigerators, washing machine etc.

• Appointment of dealers for AFD items in your town, if it has a major concentration of entitled URC customers and if such dealers exist in the civil market.

ENTITLEMENTS OF CANTEEN FACILITIES

ENTITLEMENTS OF CANTEEN FACILITIES

ENTITLEMENT AND PROCEDURE FOR PURCHASE OF AFD ITEMS

ENTITLEMENT AND PROCEDURE FOR PURCHASE OF AFD ITEMS

PURCHASE OF CAR THROUGH CSD

PURCHASE OF CAR THROUGH CSD

EX-SERVICEMEN’S CANTEEN FACILITIES

EX-SERVICEMEN’S CANTEEN FACILITIES

If you are an ex-serviceman, you have to surrender your serving Smart Cards and get ESM Smart cards made from any nearby URC within one year of your retirement. The procedure is same as for making a new card. Approach any URC and ask for application form free of cost. Fill up the application form with your recent photograph in civil dress and with PPO number. You can apply even without PPO number. The cost of making a card is Rs.100/-.

NEW ARRIVALS

NEW ARRIVALS

LIQUOR - ISSUES

LIQUOR - ISSUES

SMART CARDS

SMART CARDS

No issue of canteen items without Smart Card. If you are not having your Smart Card, immediately contact your unit / nearest URC to get your card made.


Temporarily not having Smart Card?

Entitled customers not having Smart Card temporarily for any valid reason may approach URC Manager for issue of Liquor / Grocery items on Bronze / Silver Card. These Bronze / Silver Cards are held by the URCs for this purpose.

AFTER SALES SERVICES

AFTER SALES SERVICES

CSD RATES MORE THAN MRP

CSD RATES MORE THAN MRP

CONSUMER SERVICE CELL

CONSUMER SERVICE CELL

A ‘Consumer Service Cell’ is functioning at CSD, HQ Mumbai since 1988. It deals with all the complaints received with regard to rates, non-extension of consumer promotion schemes, after-sales-services and the quality of goods supplied by the CSD. URCs and individual entitled consumers are advised to get in touch with the Cell in case no satisfactory reply is received from the Depot Managers / Regional Managers with regard to their complaints. The complaints may be addressed to DGM(MS), CSD, ‘Adelphi’, 119, MK Road, Mumbai – 400020.

SUGGESTION AND FEEDBACK

SUGGESTION AND FEEDBACK

Views and suggestions of customers are of prime importance to the Canteen Services. With a view to utilize such feedback, a suggestion box as well as a suggestion book is available in each Depot / URC. In case any URC or customer has any suggestion on any aspect of the Canteen Services, the same may be dropped in the suggestion box or recorded in the suggestion book available with the Depot Manager / URC Manager. The Depot / URC will take necessary action on the suggestion so received / recorded.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS / NEWS

URC Employees Threaten to Commit Suicide on "Labour Day" !


The URC (Unit Run Canteen) employees of Indian Defense Forces threaten to commit suicide at Parliament Gate No.11 on the coming 1st May 2010, the day celebrated as "Labor Day" all over the world, if their demands are not met by 30th April 2010. URC employees from all over India took part in a "Red Kachchha Rally" (participants were half-naked only in red shorts) on 18 Mar 10 in front of the Parliament House to demand justice from Ministry of Defence. They agitate for their meagre pay of only Rs 3000 - 5000 even after long 30 - 40 years of service with no DA, HRA or other facilities. They are even paid less than that paid to a unskilled daily wagers per day. They submitted a memorandum to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of UPA, Dr Manmohan Singh the honorable PM of India and Mr AK Anthony, the honorable Defence Minister. Their main demands were:
(i) As the CSD (Wholesale Outlet), the retail outlets (URCs) should also be declared as Public Fund and the entire transactions are revealed to the Govt of India.

(ii) The recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission should be implemented with effect from 01 Jan 2006 as applicable to other Govt employees.

Will the Govt take honest step to check the utility of huge earnings from the so-called Non-Public Fund i.e. Unit Run Canteens and do justice to the poor employees and their families.





Revision of Basic Pay

Based on the recommendations of the three Services, 15% increase in the basic pay of all Unit Run Canteen employees, in addition to 50% hike already granted to them earlier during February 2009, has been approved vide QMG’s Branch Letter No.96029 / Q /DDGCS dated 11 Mar 2010. The increase is to be effective with effect from 01 Dec 2009.

AIDCCEU (All India Defence Civilian Canteen Employees’ Union)

Press Release in Delhi on 18 Mar 2010

This is a matter of extreme exploitation of Unit Run Canteen (URC) employees by the Chiefs of Indian Defence Forces – Army, Navy and Air Force, misappropriation of Govt money and a big scam and scandal of Military Forces. The URCs are the retail outlet shops of Canteen Stores Department (CSD). The CSD is an organization of Ministry of Defence, Govt of India. There are total 35 CSD Depots established all over the country which totally depends on the 3600 URCs for sale of its articles. In comparison of annual turn over of CSD is Rs.7255 Crore the annual turnover of URCs is Rs. 7687 Crores which generate approximately a net profit of more than Rs 400 Crore per annum. In addition to this profit Military Canteens (URCs) are also getting approximately a sum of Rs.150 Crore as Quantitative Discount (QD) from Govt of India, Ministry of Defence through CSD. There is no provision of audit of this public money by the Govt agency.

Besides the both organization are working for the interest of the Nation. The CSD employees have got the status of Govt servants and they are enjoying all the benefits of Central Govt servants. But the URC employees those who are working neck to neck the three services and meeting the requirements to the end customers are being paid very poorly and getting only basic salary of Vth pay commission. No other facilities like DA, HRA, Grade Pay, Fund, Gratuity, Medical facility and rirement benefits are admissible to the URC employees, Several times our delegation met to the Hon’ble Defence Minister and apprised him about the pathetic condition of the URC employees but no relief has been got so far. It is pertinent to mention that in accordance to the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 04 Jan 2001, the Secretary, Ministry of Defence has framed a set of Rules Regulating the Terms & Conditions of URC employees which have been totally violated by the three services of Indian Defence Forces. They are not even adheres the orders of the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. The MOD is finding itself incapable to implement its own formulated Terms and Conditions and Rules regarding the Pay Scales of URC employees.

In view of the above we demand that:

(i) If profit generated by the CSD to be taken on account of Public Fund, why not the profit generated by the URCs to be treated as Public Fund as the both are generating profit on sale of same articles merely as wholesaler and retailer respectively.

(ii) Besides the both organizations are generating profit on sale of same articles why only CSD accounts are audited by the Govt Auditors. Why not the accounts of URCs to be audited by the Govt Agencies.

(iii) If the CSD employees are treated as Govt servant why not the URC employees could be treated at par their counter parts at CSD.

(iv) Why the Pay Scales of URC employees have been not revised at par their counterparts in CSD in accordance to their Terms and Conditions of services issued by the Ministry of Defence.

In view of the above it is humbly requested that a favorable action may please be taken at your end to give relief and redress the grievances of the poor employees of URCs.
Sd/-
Secretary General
AIDCCEU


URC Employees Threaten to Commit Suicide on "Labour Day" !

The URC (Unit Run Canteen) employees of Indian Defense Forces threaten to commit suicide at Parliament Gate No.11 on the coming 1st May 2010, the day celebrated as "Labor Day" all over the world, if their demands are not met by 30th April 2010. URC employees from all over India took part in a "Red Kachchha Rally" (participants were half-naked only in red shorts) on 18 Mar 10 in front of the Parliament House to demand justice from Ministry of Defence. They agitate for their meagre pay of only Rs 3000 - 5000 even after long 30 - 40 years of service with no DA, HRA or other facilities. They are even paid less than that paid to a unskilled daily wagers per day. They submitted a memorandum to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of UPA, Dr Manmohan Singh the honorable PM of India and Mr AK Anthony, the honorable Defence Minister. Their main demands were:

(i) As the CSD (Wholesale Outlet), the retail outlets (URCs) should also be declared as Public Fund and the entire transactions are revealed to the Govt of India.

(ii) The recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission should be implemented with effect from 01 Jan 2006 as applicable to other Govt employees.

Will the Govt take honest step to check the utility of huge earnings from the so-called Non-Public Fund i.e. Unit Run Canteens and do justice to the poor employees and their families.





Status of Unit Canteens and their Employees


CSD is a department under the Ministry of Defence. All its employees are Government employees. The funds of this department form part of the Consolidated Fund of India and are thus Govt Funds. On the other hand the Unit Canteens are private undertakings of the Units concerned. Their funds are are Non-Govt Funds. The CSD has no administrative control over the Unit Canteens or their personnel who are employed by the Units under various terms and conditions mutually settled between the Units and the employees. They are not Govt servants and the Ministry has no control over their service conditions and has no jurisdiction over the service condition of such employees. (Reference: Govt of India, Ministry of Defence Letter No.BOCCS/00181/Q/CAN/5469/D (MOV) dated 27 October 1977 and Letter No. 96029/Q/DDGCS dated 10 Feb 1995.)


The disturbing questions in this context the Union asking answers to:

(i) Merely calling a Govt-obligatory service as Non-Public Fund, can the Ministry of Defence keep the control of Indis’s largest retail chain network (URCs) with an annual turnover of Rs.7,500 Crore as their private venture? Has the Govt ever checked the utility of huge earnings from this so-called Non-Public Fund?

BRIEF HISTORY (CSD - URC RELATION)

The Canteen Stores Department (CSD) has been in the service of the Defence Services for more than six decades. The Department that made a humble beginning with four Depots and a turnover of less than Rs. 48 Lakhs has grown to be the largest retail chain network in India with a record sales of more than Rs.7,255 Crore as on 31 Mar 2009.

Canteen Stores Department (CSD) was initially set-up as a Central Government Department by nationalizing the Canteen by disbanding Contractor Syndicate on 01 Jul 1942 with the charter to provide consumer store to the Indian troops and their families. On 01 Apr 1977, CSD was redesigned as a regular Government Department under the Ministry of Defence. CSD is a major welfare organization working for the personnel of the Armed Forces, Ex-servicemen and their families. With the passage of time, the other categories like serving Defence Civilians, CSD employees, General Reserve Engineers Force (GREF), Personnel of Coast Guard, Army Postal Services, Territorial Army, Defence Security Corps and Para Military Forces (while under the operational and administrative control of Army) have also been entitled for the canteen facilities.

CSD provides its consumers, all over the country, quality products of daily use at rats less than those prevailing in the market. These items are meant for sale to troops, ex-servicemen and their families.

CSD functions under the Ministry of Defence. It employs a few serving officers on deputation from the Armed Forces. However, the remaining workforce comprises civilian Central Government employees covered under CCS Rules.

CSD Head Office is located at Mumbai. The Department controls and manages its field operations through a network of 35 Area Depots located across the length and breadth of the country. These Depots have been grouped into five regions based on the Indian States and their contiguity. Accordingly, the Northern Region with its office at BD Bari (Jammu) covers the states of J&K and Punjab. The Western Region with its office at Delhi controls the Area Depots located in the state of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UT of Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Central Region has its office at Lucknow and it takes care of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal. The Eastern Region with its office at Narangi (Guwahati) controls the Area Depots located in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and the seven states in North-Eastern India. The Southern Region has its head office at Khadki and it controls the field operations in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Orissa and UT of A&N Islands.

Each region is commanded by a Regional Manager (RM). Each of the said regions has six to eight Area Depots under its control. The Area Depots are categorized as small, medium, large and extra large Depots depending upon their annual turnover and dependency. On an average, each Area Depot caters to about 100 URCs.

The Unit Run Canteens (URCs) serve as a vital link between the CSD and ultimate customers. The main role of URCs is to provide the day-to-day requirements of consumer goods and durables to the serving as well as retired defence personnel and their families at a price cheaper than the market. There are a total 3600 URCs functioning in India and are catering to the requirements of about 1.6 Crore entitled personnel. Almost 7000 civilian employees are working in URCs.