Sources said that the human resources department of the PSU will deal with the issue of surplus staff after the merger is done
New Delhi: As state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) attempts to tide over a financial crisis, the board of the telecom service provider has decided to merge some circles in order to improve efficiency. "There are certain circles which are not benefiting the company. The board has approved the merger of circles in a bid to increase efficiency," a source said.
Currently, the public sector undertaking has a total of 24 circles and three training institutes. However, sources said that the board is of the view that the plethora of circles are of no use to the company. "There are 12 such circles," the source said.
Some of the circles that BSNL plans to merge include, Bihar and Jharkhand, eastern UP and western UP, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Haryana, among others.
Sources said that the human resources department of the PSU will deal with the issue of surplus staff after the merger is done. They are expected to be parked within the company, they added.
The news comes as the board of the company has approved a proposal to trim its headcount to around 54,000 employees. In order to achieve this, the company is going to lower the age of retirement from the current 60 years to 58 years and is offering a lucrative voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to employees aged 50 and above.