Telecom services hit, Minister expresses concern

New Delhi, July 11 (UNI) Telecom services across the country were disrupted today as nearly 3,40,000 employees of BSNL went on a day-long strike to protest the Centre's delay in finalising a global tender to procure 45.5 million GSM connections even as Communications and IT Minister Azhimuthu Raja expressed his dismay over the stir.

Even after all the efforts, Mr Raja made of meeting the representatives personally and ensuring the assurance by Telecom Secretary, the BSNL union has resorted to a one-day strike, an official statement said reacting to the ongoing stir which is expected to end this midnight.

The statement said the proposal for procurement of 45.5 million lines for 2G and 3G expansion of BSNL was perused by Mr Raja and he found discrepancies in processing of GSM tenders and accordingly, advised BSNL to look into those issues in the larger interest of BSNL.

The Minister had a meeting with the representatives of the Joint Forum on July 9, 2007 wherein he explained the reasons for such an advice given by him to BSNL and assured them that the interests of the BSNL and its employees will be protected at any cost. He requested them to call off their proposed strike.

The Ministry of Communications said during the intervening period till receipt of supplies under the tender, appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that BSNL does not suffer due to lack of network capacity.

''Serious efforts will be made so that BSNL remains in full readiness to utilise the benefits of technological evolution in 2G/3G/WiMAX, etc.'' The strike which started at around 0600 hrs and is expected to end by midnight may escalate into an indefinite one, if the government does not speed up the tender process, the Union warned.

''We will sit on strike for the whole day. If the management does not comes out with a final decision by today evening, we will be forced to go an indefinite strike,'' V A N Namboodiri, who represents BSNL workers said.

A total of nine unions, representing staff and officials are involved in the strike. Meanhwhile, the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has congratulated the workres on the ''complete and total strike''.

The strike is going to hit 7.5 crore BSNL landline and three crore mobile users in the country.

The strike would also affect all manual services provided by BSNL employees, including cash collection and customer service all over the country.

The employees are demanding immediate fulfilment of the BSNL's GSM service expansion tender, which seems to be on verge of being scrapped by the telecom ministry.

The tender was the outcome of a more than year-long process under which four foreign firms, including Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens and ZTP, were to collaborate with BSNL in expanding its technology and machinery for setting up six crore additional GSM connections.

The tender was first put up in October 2005, with decision taken regarding tender conditions and appointment of an empowered committee. The tender was called in May 2006 and parties submitted their bids in the following month.

Due to certain technical reasons one of the bidding parties, Motorola, was barred from participating in the tender process, which made Motorola approach the Delhi high court and obtain a stay in the proceedings. Later in April this year, Motorola withdrew its petition and the tender process was resumed.

UNI