BSNL Employees To Go On Nation Wide Hunger Strike On Monday Demanding Fastened Implementation Of Revival Plan

The All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB) has decided to organise a country-wide hunger strike on Monday (24 February) for early implementation of the cabinet decisions on the Bharat Sanchar Nigam's revival.

The strike is also aimed at putting pressure for the expeditious settlement of employees' grievances, according to an AUAB statement on Saturday.

Last year the cabinet approved a ₹69,000 crore revival package for both BSNL and MTNL. The salient features of the package included allotment of 4G spectrum, issuing sovereign guarantee for raising ₹15,000 crore ( ₹8,500 for BSNL and ₹6,500 for MTNL) funds via long-term bonds, monetisation of assets and implementation of voluntary retirement scheme.

Of these, only the VRS has been implemented and 78,569 BSNL employees have been sent home. The BSNL has not been allotted 4G spectrum. Similarly, the sovereign guarantee is awaited. The process of monetisation of BSNL's assets is also moving slowly, according to the statement.

The Supreme Court's recent judgement on the AGR calculation had created uncertainties in the telecom sector, due to which banks were unwilling to extend loans to BSNL, the AUAB said.

Due to the delay in the 4G spectrum allotment and non-availability of funds, BSNL was unlikely to launch 4G services by the end of 2020, it said and added it was quite grim situation for employees.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)