Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has yet again failed to pay salaries to its employees on time, despite reducing its staff strength by half, according to reports.
BSNL has not yet disbursed salaries for May, the Financial Express reported.
P Abhimanyu, general secretary of the BSNL employees’ union, said despite cutting down its salary expenditure from ₹950 crore to ₹350 crore, salaries were not being disbursed on time.
The organisation’s salary expenditure had dropped after 79,000 people left the company by taking the government’s Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).
According to previous reports, the Centre released around ₹10,000 crore to BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) in March towards the VRS, leave encashment, EPF and other related payments.
Delayed salary payment have become a regular occurrence at the state-owned telco. December salaries were paid on February 15, January wages on March 7, while February salaries were disbursed on March 24.
Flouting government rules for payment of wages, contract workers had not been paid wages for over a year, according to the FE report.
BSNL’s employee union said important steps in its revival package were being delayed due to “vested interests.” The plan, introduced in October, was yet to be executed, the report said.
Centre had delayed the 4G tender floated by BSNL in March after The Telecom Equipment and Services Promotion Council (TEPC) had complained that it was flouting the “Make in India” policy and was heavily reliant on multinational companies.
The telecom department had further decided to rule out the use of Chinese materials for the 4G upgrade, NDTV had reported.