Nearly 70,000 BSNL employees opted for VRS so far: Chairman

As many as 70,000 employees of BSNL have alrey opted for VRS scheme which was launched last week, Chairman and MD of state-owned telecom corporation P K Purwar said on Monday.

In all, nearly one lakh BSNL employees are eligible for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) out of its total strength of about 1.50 lakh. BSNL has pegged its internal target for VRS at 77,000 employees, and effective date of voluntary retirement under present scheme is January 31, 2020." number of employees who have opted for VRS so far has reached about 70,000. response has been strong across board," Purwar told PTI.

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corporation has also been asked by telecom department to urgently consider measures to ensure smooth operations and business continuity, especially with regard to telephone exchanges in rural areas, following launch of VRS scheme, which is set to bring down its staff strength by nearly half.

'BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme - 2019' that was rolled out last week will remain open till December 3. BSNL is looking at savings of about Rs 7,000 crore in w bill, if 70,000-80,000 personnel opt for scheme. According to scheme, all regular and permanent employees of BSNL including those on deputation to or organisations or posted outside corporation on deputation basis, who attended of 50 years or above are eligible to seek voluntary retirement under scheme.

amount of ex-gratia for any eligible employee will be equal to 35 days salary for each completed year of service and 25 days salary for every year of service left until superannuation. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) too has rolled out a VRS for its employees. scheme, based on Gujarat Model, will also be open for employees till December 3, 2019.

Union Cabinet last month h approved plan to combine MTNL - which provides services in Mumbai and New Delhi - with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) that services rest of nation. rescue pack approved by government includes infusion of Rs 20,140 crore for purchase of 4G spectrum, Rs 3,674 crore for GST to be paid on spectrum allocation, companies raising Rs 15,000 crore in debt on sovereign guarantee, government funding of Rs 17,160 crore for VRS and ar Rs 12,768 crore towards retirement liability.

two firms will also monetise assets worth Rs 37,500 crore in next three years. MTNL has reported losses in nine of past 10 years and BSNL too has been ringing in loss since 2010. total debt on both companies stood at Rs 40,000 crore, of which half of liability is on MTNL alone. 

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