Karnataka - Mysore   

BSNL staff to strike work for three days

MYSORE: Nearly 1,700 executive and non-executive staff members of State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) here will go on a three-day strike from Wednesday. The strike is likely to affect services in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts.

In response to a nationwide call given by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Associations and Unions of BSNL Executives and Non-Executives, members of the district unit of the JAC will stop working from Wednesday, demanding settlement of their 11 long-pending demands.

The demands include refund of Rs. 18,500 crore collected by the Government towards 3G spectrum charges, 78.2 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) merger for wage revision, immediate absorption of ITS officers into BSNL, procurement of adequate mobile equipment, and honouring commitments on financial viability of BSNL at the time of corporatisation. The JAC is also opposing disinvestment and Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) planned by the management and unbundling of last mile copper cable.

Dharna

On Tuesday, the employees staged a dharna in front of the office of the General Manager here. They shouted slogans against the “apathy” of the Government towards fulfilling their long-pending demands.

Coordinator of the district JAC Bhaskar told The Hindu that BSNL should have been allotted 3G spectrum without any charge as was done at the time of granting mobile phone service licence in accordance with the National Telecom Policy, 1999. But the Government collected Rs. 18,500 crore from BSNL towards spectrum charges. This had led to the State-owned company to reach the point of liquidation. “The JAC is demanding refund of the spectrum charges so that the amount could be invested in development and expansion plans,” he said.

The entire workforce was against disinvestment as it would be detrimental to the future of BSNL, he said, and added, “Disinvestment is the first step towards privatisation and hence the JAC is opposed to it”.

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