'Pre-Diwali gift' as BSNL staff to get September salary before Diwali
New Delhi, Oct 15: Putting an end to the agonising wait of employees over delayed salaries during the festival season, crisis-ridden Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has said that it is hopeful of paying salaries to its 1.76 lakh employees for September before Diwali.
BSNL Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar told to IANS that it is likely to pay September salary to its employees, before Diwali.
"We will give salaries to the employees before Diwali from our own resources on accruals. We generate Rs 1,600 crore a month revenues from services," BSNL chairman and MD P.K. Purwar told.
Earlier it was reported that the government might infuse funds to take care of employees' salaries and pay the vendor's bill during the upcoming festive season. Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) had earlier written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to help them get Rs 3,000 crore from BSNL after multiple reminders sent to the firm remained unanswered.
State-owned distressed telecom firms Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and BSNL have been incurring losses and have been facing problems in clearing staff salaries in the recent past.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for some time now has been working on a rescue plan for the two companies in the form of a revival package that entails components such as voluntary retirement scheme, asset monetisation and allocation of 4G spectrum.
Estimated
loss
BSNL's
loss
is
estimated
to
be
around
Rs
14,000
crore
with
a
decline
in
revenue
to
Rs
19,308
crore
during
2018-19.
The
public
sector
firm's
provisional
loss
was
Rs
4,859
crore
in
2015-16,
Rs
4,793
crore
in
2016-17,
Rs
7,993
crore
in
2017-18
and
is
estimated
to
swell
to
Rs
14,202
crore
in
2018-19,
according
to
information
presented
in
Parliament.
The
number
of
employees
in
BSNL
stands
at
1,65,179.