Raja intervens to end BSNL strike

Employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have called off their indefinite strike within hours after it began today after the government agreed to some of their demands on pay revision and decided to refer the divestment proposal to a group of ministers.

The decision to call off the strike was taken this morning at a meeting with the minister of communications and information technology A Raja in New Delhi today.

Employee representatives of the state-run BSNL said they decided to call off the strike in the interest of the customers and the organisation.

During the meeting, Raja directed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to resolve the issue relating to revision of pay scale of non-executives and implementation of promotion policy for them within 15 days. DoT has also agreed to expeditiously move the proposal on revision of IDA pension to the cabinet after completing all the necessary formalities.

On the business side, BSNL has been allowed to procure 10 million mobile lines immediately in view of the fact that 20 million lines are in the process of installation, a government release said.

On the issues of disinvestment of BSNL, voluntary retirement scheme and unbundling of last mile copper pairs, the government has assured BSNL unions that DoT will take into confidence all stakeholders before arriving at a final policy decision.