Within a week of the ‘Digital India’ launch employees of State-owned BSNL have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi crying foul.
In two separate letters, employees have questioned the treatment extended to Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava at the Digital India mega event and some of the recent decisions of the government, which they say are affecting BSNL’s progress.
In a letter, employees have asked why the BSNL CMD was not allowed on the dais along with the Prime Minister and senior Ministers at the Digital India Week inauguration, when heads of private sector entities were given a seat on the dais.
“while the stage was replete with private industrialists, many of whom had no … connection with the event itself, the CMD of BSNL had been relegated to the rows much farther back, well out of the purview of any media and public attention whatsoever,” they wrote.
“This action of the organisers of the event, Department of IT, even after knowing about the intrinsic value that was added to the Digital India week by BSNL’s priceless efforts, is emblematic of the growing government apathy towards public sector institutions,” the employees wrote.
In another letter, they raised issues relating to some projects, questioning the decision to sideline BSNL. They pointed out that one of the reasons BSNL is suffering losses is because it provides services at a low cost at the grassroots level, which private companies cannot do.
“The investment BSNL made towards the establishment of a modern telecom infrastructure in the country, in terms of optical fibre networks, telephone exchanges, cables, switches…is one of the main reasons something like the Digital India week could be thought of in the first place,” the letter said.
In the letter, the Sanchar Nigam Executives’ Association (SNEA) India (or BSNL Executive Association) said private companies should not be part of the National Optical Fibre Network project. The letter also points to a delay in a Cabinet decision for release of initial funds for Bharat Broadband Network.
Key problemsThe employees also highlighted problems such as a “delay in releasing tenders and assigning contracts.
The letter argues that an expert committee has ‘virtually gutted the original NOFN project’ in its report because the Committee has two past Nasscom presidents.
“It has put forward restructuring of the whole project … with a huge increase in costs and extending the schedule considerably,” SNEA wrote.