The Hindu : National : Strike was unwarranted, says Raja

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Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Strike was unwarranted, says Raja

R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI: Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja on Wednesday described the one-day strike resorted to by BSNL employees as “unwarranted” and said “lakhs of customers were unnecessarily inconvenienced.”

“After having talked to them till around 11 p.m. last night and after we agreed to almost all their demands, I am unable to understand their motivation for going on strike this morning,” Mr. Raja told The Hindu on the ph one from New Delhi.

“I have listened to all that they had to say and we sorted out all outstanding issues. They told me that they were happy with the results of the meeting. The next thing I know, they switched off [circuits] in the morning,” he said and wanted to know what happened between 11 p.m. on Tuesday and early morning on Wednesday for the BSNL Joint Forum to change its stand.

“Even after I met them [the representatives] all personally and the Secretary, DoT, giving them an assurance in writing, the Joint Forum resorted to the strike on July 11 for reasons best known to them,” he said.

The Minister said that based on the demands of the BSNL Joint Forum, the Secretary, DoT, gave the following assurances to its convener, V.A.N. Namboodiri:

“BSNL will give its response to all queries raised within a week’s time; Minister for Communications and Information Technology expressed his concern about BSNL and assured them that while taking a decision on the response of BSNL, the interest of BSNL will be protected; during the intervening period until till receipt of supplies under the tender, appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that BSNL does not suffer for lack of network capacity and serious efforts will be made so that BSNL remains in full readiness to utilise the benefits of technological evolution in 2G/3G/WiMAX, etc.”

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