Congress Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora on Monday raised the issue of delay in the salaries of MTNL and BSNL employees, asking the Centre to take immediate steps to reduce the losses of the two public sector companies and revive them.

“It is a matter of great concern and shock for the entire country that two major public sector undertakings [PSUs], which are related to the common people, MTNL and BSNL, are going to be shut down because of the wrong policies of this government. As of now, salaries of 45,000 employees of MTNL and 1,74,312 employees of BSNL have not been paid for months together or have been irregular,” he said.

“Now, why is this happening? It is because the 5G and 4G spectra have been given to private companies, but the public sector undertakings are forced to operate only with 3G. This is deliberate bleeding and crippling of government PSUs by not allowing to connect with private players in such a highly expanding market and with rapidly developing technology.”

The MP suggested that the government should come out with measures to bail out the two PSUs with a recapitalisation package.