DRFA

Death Relief Fund Association.

In our office-Bharat Electronics Ltd Ghaziabad- there was a Death relief Fund association, whose primary duty was to organize the funeral of the deceased employee, arrange the payment of death benefits etc to the family members of the deceased employee etc. DRFA consists of one President, one Secretary, one Treasurer and 4 committee members. President and Treasurer were nominated by the management and others were elected posts. I was the treasurer of DRFA for a long time. Secretary of DRFA Mr. Haridas was very sincere, dedicated and devoted employee and social worker. He used to take my help frequently for preparing minutes, (It is ironical that people take hours to prepare minutes) making letters etc. Initially I used to give him dictation (Though I was not a dictator). Subsequently I asked him to write in his own language in English or Hinglish.  Initially I had to rewrite the whole thing or again gave him dictation. Gradually his drafting skills have improved (Though he was not a draftsman) and after some time it was correct to the extent of 80%. Unlike many others, I do not condemn or ridicule people with lack of knowledge and instead I tried to educate them and improve them. I found that it is not difficult to develop a willing person.

Once an employee came and asked me “What are the benefits under DRFA rules?” I told him (in a lighter vein) “Why you are asking now? You come and ask me when you become eligible for that”. Benefits under DRFA rules were once revised with retrospective effect. On this one committee member quipped “Marne valom ka maze aa Gaya”. (Great news for the deceased people.)

Being the treasurer of DRFA I had to attend funerals of deceased employees. The friend of one of my colleague was employed at Nigambodh Ghat (A funeral place in Delhi) and I befriended with him during one visit. After a long time, when I visited that place again he told me “Aap to bahut din ke baad aaya”. (You came after a long time)

Once an employee came to me and asked me the full details of death benefits given by the company and DRFA.  Since I was not busy at that time, I explained him in detail and gave item wise breakup of details like gratuity, Insurance, Leave encashment, DRFA benefits etc. The amount was running into few lacs, which was much beyond his expectation. After getting the full details he quipped “Ye baat ghar nahi bata sakte hai. Kya pata beevi mar dalega?” (I cannot tell this to my wife. Who knows that she will not murder me?)

Elections to DRFA committee were being held once in 3 years. Many people eager to serve the dead, (perhaps thinking that at least the deceased employee will not complain) contest election vigorously.  One outgoing committee member sought my advice for campaigning. I told him to highlight your achievements and solicit the support of members. His campaign went like this. “Pehle beez saal me sirf 5 employees mar gaya tha. Lekin hamare time 5 saal me beez employee mar gaya. Muje sewa ka mouka deejiye. Kum se kum ek baar to deejiye”. (During the initial period of 20 years only 5 employees died, but during our tenure of 5 years 20 employees died. Please give me a chance to serve you. At least once”.