Shri B. L. Varshney, who has been working as the interim Director (EB) has been promoted and posted as the Advisor, AP, LSA. In view of this, the DoT has issued letter, according to which, Shri Arvind Vadnerkar, Director (HR) has been given the additional charge of the Director (EB) also.

The DoT has issued instruction yesterday that, the Director (Establishment), nominated in each telecom circle by the DoT, will act as the cadre-controlling officer of the unabsorbed Group ’C’ & ‘D’ employees working in BSNL. It is stated in the letter that, matters related to issuing of retirement / struck-off order, granting NoC for going abroad and permission for acquiring immovable and movable property, in respect of the unabsorbed Group ’C’ & ‘D’ employees, will be dealt and decided by this Director (Establishment).

BSNLEU, vide it's letter number  BSNLEU / 604 (DEV) dated 07-09-2018 has written to the CMD BSNL, complaining about the harassment being caused to BSNL customers, by M/s Hungama. For this, Corporate Office has given a reply to the General Secretary, BSNLEU. The matter relates to the forced activation of value added services by Hungama, with whom BSNL has signed an agreement. Our complaint is that Hungama is harassing BSNL's customers and is fleecing money from them. Due to the forced activation of value added services by Hungama, a lot of BSNL customers are closing down their connections. Even though some action has been taken by the Corporate Office, the grievances of the customers are not fully redressed. BSNLEU will further pursue this issue, after getting feedback from Maharashtra circle union.

Still many unabsorbed DoT employees are working in BSNL, for whom Presidential Orders are not issued, due to one reason or the other. They are eligible for Pay Revision, as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. BSNLEU took up this issue and demanded implementation of the recommendations of the 7th CPC for these employees. After much delay, the Corporate Office had issued letter yesterday, for the implementation of the same.

On 22.12.2015, the BSNL Corporate Office issued a letter for the fixation of pay of the officiating JTOs and  deputing them to the JTO Phase-I training. In that letter, it was mentioned that, the pay of the officiating JTOs would be fixed under FR22(1)(a)(i). It was further mentioned in that letter that, the officiating JTOs would be reverted to their parent cadre of TTA, before being deputed for JTO Phase-I training. Now, based on the judgement given by the principal CAT on 05.02.2020, the BSNL Corporate Office has issued a letter today the 09.07.2020, nullifying the reversion of the officiating JTOs to their parent cadre of TTA.

The Corporate Office has called for applications for granting special increment for the officials who have performed / achieved in National and International sports events. Eligible officials can apply. The secretaries of the Circle Sports & Cultural Board have been directed to forward the applications of eligible officials.

BSNLEU has been seriously taking up the case of left out officials of Assam circle, to whom Presidential Orders has to be issued by the DoT. As a result of our consistent persuasion, finally the DoT has now conveyed it's approval for the issuing of Presidential Orders to 31 officials. The Presidential Orders will now be issued by the Director (Establishment), nominated in Assam circle.

The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, has issued a letter yesterday the 08^th July, 2020, extending Sovereign Guarantee to BSNL and MTNL, for issuing long term bonds. The Sovereign Guarantee is for Rs.15,000 crore, out of which BSNL’s share is Rs.8,500 crore. In this letter, the following is stated in para no. iii :-

“Guarantee given by Government of India shall be non-transferrable and would cease to exist in case the ownership of the entity is transferred from Government of India….”

From the above clause included in the letter for Sovereign Guarantee, it becomes very clear that the Government of India is open to the option of transferring the ownership of BSNL and MTNL. In other words, this clause of the letter indicates that, the Government of India is having the option of privatising BSNL and MTNL.

वित्त मंत्रालय ने पत्र जारी किया, अब सरकार लंबी अवधि के बांड जारी करने के लिए BSNL और MTNL को सर्वोच्च (सोवेरिन) गारंटी प्रदान करेगा ।

वित्त मंत्रालय के आर्थिक मामलों के विभाग ने लंबी अवधि के बांड जारी करने के लिए BSNL और MTNL को सर्वोच्च (सॉवरिन) गारंटी प्रदान करते हुए कल 08 जुलाई, 2020 को एक पत्र जारी किया है।  सर्वोच्च (सॉवरेन) गारंटी 15,000 करोड़ रुपये की है, जिसमें से BSNL का शेयर 8,500 करोड़ रुपये है।  इस पत्र में, निम्नलिखित में पैरा नं।  iii: -

 "भारत सरकार द्वारा दी गई गारंटी गैर-हस्तांतरणीय होगी और  इन इकाई का स्वामित्व भारत सरकार से  हस्तांतरित होने की स्थिति में मौजूद रहेगा।" 

 सर्वोच्च (सॉवरेन) गारंटी के लिए पत्र में शामिल उपरोक्त खंड से, यह बहुत स्पष्ट हो जाता है कि भारत सरकार BSNL और MTNL के स्वामित्व (मालकाना अधिकार) को स्थानांतरित (ट्रांसफर) करने के विकल्प के लिए खुला रहेगा।  दूसरे शब्दों में, पत्र का यह खंड दर्शित करता है कि, भारत सरकार के पास BSNL और MTNL के निजीकरण करने का विकल्प खुला होगा।

BSNL Corporate Office has issued a letter in respect of the check off system. The points contained in the letter are as follows:-

1. In view of the ongoing process of implementing VRS, the option available to the employees to change their Union during the period from 16.12.2019 to 15.01.2020 will be skipped.
2. Hereafter, the option to change the Union will be available to the employees only once in a year, instead of twice a year as is available now.
3. A new system will be introduced for employees according to which change of Union should be done by applying in ERP.

The Union and Associations have been directed to give their feedbacks by 10.12.2019. In view of this, Circle Secretaries and Central Executive Committee members are requested to immediately send their views to the CHQ on the above mentioned letter of the Management.