The BSNL Management had earlier banned Compassionate Ground Appointments (CGA) up to 31.03.2022. Again, this ban has been extended indefinitely by the BSNL Board. BSNLEU is continuously demanding that this ban on CGA should be lifted. Today, once again BSNLEU has written letter to the CMD BSNL, stating that it is the duty of the BSNL Management to provide CGA to the families of nearly 230 employees who had died due to Covid-19 and also other employees who had died in accidents, while on duty. BSNLEU has strongly demanded that the ban on CGA should be lifted.

It is a pathetic situation in BSNL that, the Non-Executives are languishing without getting transfer under Para 8 of the BSNL Transfer Policy, even after completion of the requisite period of service in their recruiting units. Importantly, the DR JEs have become victims of the faulty Restructuring of Manpower, put in place by the BSNL Board. The requests for transfer under Rule 8 are being denied in the guise of shortage of Manpower. BSNLEU has already written letters to the Director (HR) and the CMD BSNL. But, all have fallen on deaf ears and no action has been taken. Hence, once again, BSNLEU has written a serious letter to the CMD BSNL today on this issue.

BSNL‘s services in Leh district are being seriously affected, due to the frequent outages of the Srinagar-Leh OFC. BSNLEU he is repeatedly taking up this issue with the BSNL management. This issue was seriously raised by the General Secretary, BSNLEU, in the meeting held on 27-10-2021, between the CMD BSNL and the AUAB. It was replied in that meeting that, BSNL would take OFC from the Power Grid Corporation  Ltd., on lease basis, to resolve this issue. However no action has been taken by the BSNL management so far. CHQ of BSNLEU has once again written to the CMD BSNL today, requesting to find an immediate solution to this problem.

It is already one year and four months, since the Hon’ble Kerala High Court ordered the CMD BSNL to pay the IDA increase to the Non-Executives of BSNL. Thereafter, BSNLEU is continuously writing letters to the CMD BSNL, demanding payment of the IDA arrears. However, the CMD BSNL has not so far implemented the order of the Hon’ble Kerala High Court. Hence, today Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, has written letter to Shri P.K.Purwar, CMD BSNL, wherein BSNLEU has told “Pay the IDA arrears within two weeks or face contempt of court proceeding”. BSNLEU will file contempt of court petition against Shri P.K. Purwar, CMD BSNL, if the IDA arrears is not paid within two weeks.

The Central Government and PSU employees posted in the Kashmir Valley are being granted with special concessions / incentives. These special concessions / incentives are being extended once in two years. It was last extended up to 31.07.2021. Thereafter, the DoP&T has not extended the grant. Under these circumstances, BSNLEU has written to the Secretary, DoP&T, today,  requesting to grant the extension without further delay. 

MTNL’s debt is Rs.26,000/- crore. It is paying interest of Rs.2,100/- crore. MTNL’s income is only Rs.1,300/- crore. Shri P.K. Purwar, CMD BSNL & MTNL, has told that MTNL is in the ICU and any day it can be declared dead. [Business Line dt. 21-03-2022] Shri P.K. Purwar is the CMD MTNL also. When such is the condition of MTNL, the government is taking speedy measures to merge BSNL, MTNL and BBNL. The merger of MTNL with BSNL will do irreparable damage to the financial revival of BSNL. Hence, BSNLEU has written to Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister, to drop the merger of BSNL and MTNL. Alternatively, BSNLEU has demanded that, the entire debt of MTNL should be taken over by the government. Together with that, the government should also provide financial assistance for the restoration of the landline and mobile networks of MTNL. 

On 27.10.2021, BSNL Corporate Office issued letter for the payment of IDA arrears, which became due to the Non-Executives w.e.f. 01.10.2020, 01.01.2021 and 01.04.2021. It is already 5 months since the letter was issued. However, payment of arrears has not been made to the Non-Executives till today. BSNLEU is repeatedly writing to the CMD BSNL, demanding prompt payment of the IDA arrears. Once again, BSNLEU has written to the CMD BSNL today, insisting for the immediate payment of the arrears.

A General Strike is being organised on 28^th & 29^th March, 2022, against privatisation of the Public Sector, National Monetisation Pipeline and on the demands of Wage Revision for BSNL employees, launching of BSNL’s 4G service, Pension Revision, etc. Yesterday, BSNLEU served the strike notice to the CMD BSNL and the Secretary, Telecom, for participating in this General Strike. The strike notice is enclosed.

As per rule, office bearers of Recognised Unions can avail Special Casual Leave only up to 20 days in a year, for attending conferences and executive committee meetings. Apart from this, as per DoP&T orders, officials who remained under home quarantine, or hospitalised on account of COVID-19, have also availed Special Casual Leave up to 20 days. As such, the officials who have already availed Special Casual Leave on account of COVID-19, cannot avail Special Casual Leave now, for attending union conferences / executive committee meetings. Hence, BSNLEU has written to the PGM(Estt.), yesterday demanding that, irrespective of availing of special CL for COVID-19, office bearers should be allowed to avail Special Casual Leave for 20 days for attending conferences / executive committee meetings. The General Secretary discussed this issue with Shri Saurabh Tyagi, PGM(Estt.), BSNL CO., and demanded prompt action. The PGM(Estt.) has assured to do the needful.

The NE-II circle consists of far-flung areas of the country. To mitigate the hardships of the JEs posted in remote areas of the circle, the CGM, NE-II circle has issued guidelines, after holding discussion with the Main Recognised Union. However, the instructions contained in the CGM letter are not being implemented. Consequently, the JEs posted in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh are not being relieved even after completion of the tenure. This issue was taken up in the Formal meeting held between the Director (HR) and BSNLEU, on 19.06.2021. Still, the required action has not been taken by the Management. Hence, BSNLEU has once again written to the Sr.GM(SR), BSNL CO., for making necessary intervention.

The BSNL Corporate Office has already issued letter to the CGMs, stating that, all the letters issued by the DoP&T on Child Care Leave, are applicable to the women employees of BSNL also and that, the letters of the DoP&T on the subject need not be endorsed by the Corporate Office. However, as per the orders of the DoP&T, single male parents are also eligible for Child Care Leave. Since the BSNL Corporate Office letter has no mention about the single male parents, Child Care Leave is being denied to them by the circle administrations. Hence, BSNLEU has written to the Corporate Office, requesting to issue necessary clarification to the field units.

The BSNL Corporate Office has prepared the draft JAO Recruitment Rules and sought the views of BSNLEU. The All India Centre of BSNLEU met online today and finalised it’s views. The meeting took into account, the views sent by the various circle unions of BSNLEU and also individual comrades. Based on that, BSNLEU has written letter to the Management today. The highlights of the letter are:- 

1. BSNLEU has vehemently opposed the condition proposed by the Management that, only the officials who have completed 5 years of service in NE-9 pay scale or above can appear in the JAO LICE. 

2. BSNLEU has strongly demanded that, all the Non-Executives, having the requisite qualification (degree),  should be allowed to appear in the JAO LICE. 

3. BSNLEU has also demanded that, the Non-Executives who have already cleared JAO Part-I exam should be allowed to appear in the forthcoming JAO LICE as a one time measure. 

The Group Term Insurance Scheme (GTI) for the Non-Executives was implemented w.e.f. 01.03.2021. The annual premium for this GTI has been deducted from the salaries of the employees in the month of February, 2021. Since, the annual premium is expiring, BSNLEU has written to the GM(Admin.) in the BSNL Corporate Office, demanding to take action for the deduction of the annual premium from the salary for the month of February, 2022.

The MoUs signed by BSNL with the Canara bank and the Union Bank of India have expired long back. Due to the non-renewal of the MoUs, employees are unable to avail various bank loans. BSNLEU has already written to the CMD BSNL in this regard on 23.12.2021 itself. However, till now the MoUs have not been renewed. Hence, BSNLEU has once again written to the CMD BSNL today, demanding early renewal of the MoUs with the Canara bank and the Union Bank of India.

The BSNL Management is adopting double standards in the matter of promotions of the Non-Executives and Executives. We are not against the legitimate promotion being given to any cadre / category. However, different yardsticks should not be adopted. In the case of Executives, the Management has given promotions based on the vacancies which existed up to 31.01.2020 (the date on which VRS was implemented). However, in the case of Non-Executives, the Management had abolished most of the vacancies which existed upto 31-01-2020. As a result, for the JTO LICE, there is not even a single vacancy available in 12 circles. In 4 circles, vacancies are available only in single digit. The same is going to be the situation for the JE LICE, TT LICE, JAO LICE, etc. This is a very big injustice. BSNLEU has already written to the CMD BSNL on this issue. Since no response has been received, BSNLEU has written letter to the Hon’ble Minister of Communications today, demanding his intervention.

In BSNL, around 400 TSMs have directly been promoted as Telecom Technicians, without getting regularised as RMs. As per the Temporary Status Scheme, implemented by the DoT in 1989, 50% of the TSM service of these officials should be counted for payment of pension. For this, all these 400 officials, have to be issued with Presidential Orders. BSNLEU is continuously knocking the doors of the BSNL and the DoT to settle this issue. Today, once again BSNLEU has written to the Director (HR), demanding needful action. 

From the days when the “Consolidation of Business Areas” started, the Management has been assuring that this is not “merger of SSAs”. If it is “merger of SSAs” then the Non-Executives will be transferred to any place within the Business Area. BSNLEU has been strongly demanding that Non-Executives should not be transferred out of the SSA, when the “Consolidation of Business Areas” takes place. The Management has also accepted this. Recently, in a Corporate Office letter, the term “merger of SSAs” has been used. This will lead to many complications. Hence, BSNLEU has demanded that the letter should be amended. BSNLEU has also demanded that, the term “merger of SSAs” should not be used in the Corporate Office letters.

जेटीओ एलआईसीई के लिए उपलब्ध रिक्त पदों की बहुत कम संख्या : BSNLEU ने सीएमडी, BSNL को पत्र लिखकर पर्याप्त संख्या में रिक्त पदों की उपलब्धता की मांग की है।

बीएसएनएल कारपोरेट कार्यालय ने आगामी जेटीओ एलआईसीई के लिए रिक्त पदों की घोषणा की है। अधिकांश सर्किलों में रिक्त पद बेहद कम हैं। रिक्त पद केवल 18 सर्किलों में उपलब्ध हैं। कुछ सर्किल में रिक्त पद की संख्या केवल एक अंक में उपलब्ध हैं। ये सभी बीएसएनएल बोर्ड द्वारा पुनर्गठन के नाम पर बड़ी संख्या में जेटीओ पदों को समाप्त किए जाने का परिणाम हैं। बीएसएनएलईयू ने बीएसएनएल के सीएमडी को पत्र लिखकर आगामी जेटीओ एलआईसीई के लिए प्रत्येक सर्कल में पर्याप्त संख्या में जेटीओ के रिक्त पदों की उपलब्धता सुनिश्चित करने की मांग की है। यह न केवल जेई के लिए जेटीओ पदोन्नति सुनिश्चित करने के लिए है, बल्कि यह भी सुनिश्चित करने के लिए है कि निकट भविष्य में कंपनी द्वारा तैनात की जाने वाली अत्याधुनिक तकनीक के प्रबंधन के लिए पर्याप्त संख्या में जेटीओ उपलब्ध होl

The BSNL Corporate Office has announced the vacancies for the forthcoming JTO LICE. The vacancies in most of the circles are abysmally low. Vacancies are available only in 18 circles. In some circles, vacancies are available only in single digit. All these are the result of abolition of a large number of JTO posts, by the BSNL Board, in the name of Restructuring. BSNLEU has written to the CMD BSNL demanding to ensure availability of sufficient number of JTO vacancies in each and every circle for the forthcoming JTO LICE. It is not only to ensure JTO promotion to the JEs, but also to ensure that, sufficient JTO’s are available for manning the state-of-the-art technologies to be deployed by the company in the near future.

In September, 2021, the AUAB gave call for agitational programme. Disbursement of salary on the due date was the most important demand in that struggle. In the talks held on 21.10.2021, between the AUAB and the CMD BSNL, agreement was reached that salary would be disbursed on the due date from January, 2022 onwards. However, the CMD BSNL has thrown this agreement to the winds. The AUAB had written to the CMD BSNL, strongly condemning the violation of the agreement.