BSNL employees to go on indefinite strike from Nov 30

Vijayawada: Demanding implementation of the assurances extended by the Union Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha, the employees of public sector undertaking Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited warned here on Monday that they would launch an indefinite strike from November 30, if the government did not implement the assurances by that date.

P Ashok Babu, State secretary of BSNL Employees Union, Chandrasekhar Reddy, State secretary of National Federation of Telecom Employees of BSNL, J Umamaheswara Rao, State secretary of Sanchar Nigam Executives Association, A Koteswara Rao, State secretary of All India BSNL Executives Association, D Venugopala Rao, All India Graduate Engineer Telecom Officers Association and P Koteswara Rao, Secretary of Assocaiton of Telecom Mecanics of BSNL jointly addressing the media here said the Union Minister gave several assurances on February 24, 2018 to solve the problems of the employees. However, not a single assurance was implemented so far, they lamented.

They recalled that the Minister assured them that in spite of the financial crunch, 15 per cent fitment to the employees would be recommended to the Union Cabinet, pension would be revised to the BSNL pensioners with effect from January 1, 2017, the BSNL would be allotted 4G spectrum with Rs 7,233 crore to be paid in 10 annual installments among others.

Since not a single assurance was implemented even after eight years, the BSNL employees were compelled to give the strike call, they said. The BSNL was pushed into heavy loss due to the faulty policies of the Union government by not buying equipment to extend the mobile services between 2007 and 2012, they said. However, the government was forced to purchase the equipment after 2013 after an agitation launched by the BSNL employees.