BSNL staff unions join hands to ‘save’ company

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 4

More than 800 BSNL workers from various unions and associations in Punjab attended the “Save BSNL, Save Nation” convention at Guru Nanak Bhawan here today. The convention organised by the Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations, Punjab, was presided over by Amit Mittal, circle president, NFTE-BSNL, Punjab.

Addressing the gathering, Balbir Singh, national president, BSNL Employees’ Union, said the management of the BSNL was not supplying any equipment to provide world-class efficient services to the customers.

“Due to the policies of the government, the BSNL is running into heavy losses for the past four financial years,” he said.

Balbir Singh said as the BSNL was providing services in rural, hilly and naxal-affected areas, it was incurring losses to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore annually.

Chandeshwar Singh, general secretary, NFTE-BSNL, said all their efforts had failed due to the adamant attitude of the BSNL management and the government. He said the forum was opposing the merger of BSNL and MTNL as the MTNL was a listed company with 46.5% shares and was under a debt of Rs 20,000 cores. He also opposed the breaking up of the BSNL into smaller subsidiaries.