VRS for 20,000 BSNL employees in the offing

New Delhi, July 31 (UNI) In a bid to re-energise its ageing workforce, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has written to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) seeking Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for its 20,000 employees.

''We are expecting to receive 20,000 VRS applications from group C and D employees in the first phase,'' outgoing BSNL CMD A K Sinha told reporters here.

The telecom major will soon appoint 6,000 JTOs, 6,000 TTAs and managament trainees to strenghten its work force.

Talking about the 23 million GSM lines to be laid by Ericsson and Nokia, Mr Sinha said that APOs will be received within a day or two and the capacity will be installed within 6-9 months.

''The initial 5-8 milion capacity will be fulfilled in the next two months,'' he said adding that the company will reach the million susbscriber mark in two months.

UNI