Question : Poor Financial Condition of BSNL

(a) the benefits of merger of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) with regard to the employees of these organisations;

(b) whether the Government has any plan to give Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) option to the employees of BSNL and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has received any application for VRS from the employees of these organisations and if so, the details thereof along with the number of such applications received by the Government, Telecom Company-wise; and

(d) the number of employees who took voluntary retirement during the current financial year, Telecom company-wise?

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND
ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is operating in metros of Delhi and Mumbai and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is operating in rest of India. The benefits of merger will be in the form of pan-India footprint, synergy in operations, enhanced enterprise business, sharing of technical manpower and key management resources. The merger of BSNL and MTNL will result in improved financial performance of the merged entity that will ultimately benefit employees of these organisations.

(b) The Cabinet in its meeting held on 23.10.2019 approved the revival plan for BSNL which inter-alia includes reduction in the staff cost through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees of age 50 years and above.

(c) BSNL and MTNL introduced VRS scheme with effect from 04.11.2019 for their employees of age 50 years and above. The scheme is open till 03.12.2019. As on 27.11.2019, 79101 employees of BSNL and 14050 employees of MTNL have applied for VRS.

(d) 804 employees of BSNL and 62 employees of MTNL have taken voluntary retirement during April to October, 2019.

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