BSNL does not have money to pay salaries to 1.68 lakh employees!!

New Delhi: Government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has not paid salaries to its employees in the majority of the circles for the month of February because it does not have the requisite cash flow. As the financial crisis looms over the telecom company, the fate of at least 1.68 lakh employees seem to be in the lurch. According to employees, this is the first time in 18 years that the company has not been able to pay salary to its employees.

"We have met the management, have given them letters too but it seems company has no money left to pay us salaries"

Swapan Chakraborty of BSNL Employees' Union, who spoke to PSU Watch, said, "We were supposed to get the salaries on February 28 and we have not got it yet. More than that, as BSNL faces cash deficit, it is not able to make all the bill payments."

Happened for the first time in the history of BSNL

Since the inception of BSNL, that is 18 years ago, BSNL employees were being given salary on the last date of the month. This is the first time salary of any month is delayed. Chakraborty said, "We have met the management, have given them letters too but it seems company has no money left to pay us salaries".

Other sources within the organisation who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity also said that their salaries have been delayed. Requests to get an official comment on the matter were turned down by BSNL's spokesperson and calls to the Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Srivastava went unanswered.

BSNL's Pune office has not paid its electricity bills

The news comes close on the heels of a report from Pune which said that the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) had cut off electricity supply to the state-run telecom company in Bhusari Colony since March 2 because BSNL had failed to clear the previous bills.

The move is believed to have disrupted around 2,000 telephone lines and 1,000 wireless connections in the area. BSNL spokesperson for Pune, Babuji Jamadar, had then confirmed that electricity supply to the telecom company's office had been cut off because the company owed Rs 1.42 lakh to MSEDCL.