BSNL employees await salaries even as Christmas is here

BSNL employees await salaries even as Christmas is here

Kottayam: Employees of the beleaguered government-owned telecom operator, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), have little reason to cheer during this Christmas-New Year festive season. The lot of the employees is pitiable as the salary disbursal has been disrupted for more than six months.

The BSNL staff are yet to get the salary for the month of November. The salary for October was credited on December 5. There is no confirmation on when the salary for December would be disbursed. Even during the Onam celebrations in September, the BSNL employees were not given salary on time.

The Union cabinet had earlier given the nod for a revival plan for the BSNL that includes steps to reduce the employee cost by offering Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to personnel who are 50 years of age and above.

However, steps such as checking the VRS applications and further procedures are getting delayed. Further action needs to be taken by documenting the benefits through SAMPANN, a pension management software for the employees of the telecom department. (SAMPANN stands for System for Accounting and Management of Pension.)

However, the software which was launched in December 2018 is not fully functional yet and details of several applicants have not been documented.

BSNL staff who have opted for the VRS would retire from service on January 31. Around 52 per cent of the staff would thus leave the telecom company.

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