BSNL Employees Stage Demonstration in Tuticorin

The telecom employees affiliated to Joint Forum of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Unions/Associations staged a demonstration in front of their General Manager’s office in Tuticorin on 11th October, to pres their charter of demands.

J. Linga Bhaskar, president of the forum, said that the authorities concerned should take steps to procure gadgets to establish third generation Global System for Mobile communication lines at the earliest.

The BSNL should be granted ‘Navaratna’ status, as the organisation was graded ‘excellent’ for the past two years and ‘very good’ during this year.

The decision to increase the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in private telecom companies should be cancelled. The Access Digital Charges and Universal Service Obligation fund should not be phased out.

Mr. Bhaskar said that the stipulation which asks the BSNL to pay the balance sum to the Government if pension amount was computed more than 60 per cent of the total payment by the organisation towards dividend, license fee, corporate tax, excise duty and service tax, should be cancelled.

The forum wanted the Government to take quick action to ensure absorption of entire Group ‘A’ and Indian Telecom Service officers into the BSNL fold. “Presently, most of them are stuck with the Department of Telecommunications even seven years after BSNL was constituted in 2000 and are now working for BSNL on deputation basis, which was affecting the growth, development and expansion of the firm,” he said.

The Government should grant the merger of 50 per cent of DA with the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2004. About 150 employees took part in the agitation.