BSNL Employees Appeal To PM Modi To Drop MTNL-BSNL Merger Proposal

Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to the Lok Sabha has dismissed any plans for divestment in BSNL

BSNL employees union demanded that the government should take over MTNL’s debt of Rs 26,000 crore and in addition provide financial relief to BSNL. Image: Getty

New Delhi: The employees union of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Wednesday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing him to drop the merger proposal between MTNL (Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd) and BSNL.

According to the letter to the prime minister, the employees union said the merger will certainly ruin the financial condition of BSNL. The letter says that the news of the merger has raised concerns among the employees of the BSNL.

The letter stated that BSNL MD, P K Purwar, who is also the CMD of MTNL, apprised a newspaper about BSNLs' serious financial condition. Under these circumstances, if the merger takes place, it will do irreparable damage to BSNL, which is also struggling to come out of the financial crisis.

The letter that ANI has tweeted showed the employees union has also made a demand before the prime minister urging him to take over MTNL’s debt of Rs 26,000 crore and in addition provide financial relief to BSNL for the rehabilitation of the networks.

BSNL Employees Union appeal PM Modi to drop the proposal to merge MTNL with BSNL; suggests the govt to take over MTNL's Rs 26,000 crore debt and also provide financial assistance to BSNL. pic.twitter.com/yrrWHMShCx

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2022

Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday dismissed any such plans for divestment in BSNL.

Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to the Lok Sabha also asserted that there is no delay or deficiency in services provided by BSNL due to the implementation of voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in early 2020.

“There is no plan under consideration for disinvestment of BSNL,” Chauhan said to a question related to immovable assets of BSNL.

The Centre had approved a revival plan for BSNL in October 2019, which included measures to reduce the staff cost through a VRS for employees of 50 years of age and above, administrative allotment of spectrum for providing 4G services with funding through budgetary allocation, monetisation of non-core and core assets to generate resources to retire debt, meet capital expenditure and other requirement and debt restructuring by raising of sovereign guarantee bonds.