New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sanctioned Rs 5,278 crore towards the payment of ex-gratia to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) employees who have opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
The BSNL employees had served legal notices to Secretary of Department of Telecommunication and Department of Expenditure. The instalments of ex gratia were committed to be paid in two equal instalments by March 31 and June 30 in 50% instalment each.
"Sanction of the competent authority is hereby conveyed for the payment of an amount of Rs 5,278 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for ex-gratia payment to BSNL VRS opted employees," the department in a circular said.
The department directive also said that this money should be used only for payment of ex-gratia on or before July 31st. As a part of 70,000 crore revival plan, BSNL and MTNL introduce VRS under which any employee above the age of 53 and a half who opts for VRS will be given 125% renunciation of the salary, pension and gratuity till the age of 60. About 92000 employees opted for VRS and the ex gratia component would require over 17000 crores.
Recently Department of Economic Affairs also approved a sovereign guarantee of Rs 15000 crore for BSNL and MTNL as part of revival package. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister had approved the plan to combine MTNL which provide services in Mumbai and New Delhi with BSNL that services the rest of nation, in 2019.
In December 2019,7 membered Group of Ministers (GoM) was also constituted to Fast track and oversee implementation of revival plan of BSNL and MTNL. The GoM included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Home minister Amit Shah, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Oil and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The revival plan was announced after BSNL and MTNL reported losses since 2010.
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