Sivasailam shunted out of DoT – Anshu Prakash is the new Additional Secretary,
DoT.Sivasailam, who has been Special Secretary, in DoT, is shunted out, and is posted in the Commerce Department. He is posted as Special Secretary, Logistics, in the Commerce Department. Anshu Prakash is posted as the Additional Secretary, in the DoT and he will report to the Secretary, Telecom. It is reported that N. Sivasailam has been shunted out of the DoT, with a view to speed up the various government projects, such as NOFN, being carried out by the DoT. These projects are being directly monitored by the PMO. It is to be mentioned that N. Sivasailam, who was also in BSNL Board, has been very hostile towards BSNL and has created many problems in the settlement of issues of the employees, as well as in the financial improvement of the Company.
[Source: ET Telecom dated 19.11.2018]
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DoT gives another blow to BSNL – bank loans are stopped.
In another blow to BSNL, the DoT has created a new roadblock in BSNL’s taking bank loans. The new condition laid down by the DoT stipulates that, BSNL can take bank loans only for “Capital Works” and not for other purposes. Due to the predatory pricing of Reliance Jio, BSNL’s revenue collections are drastically reduced and the Management is struggling even to pay salaries to the employees. Fund is not being allotted by the Corporate Office for various payments. Hence, medical bills are not paid from August. Under these circumstances, the new restriction laid down by the DoT is only to cripple BSNL. The private companies are also badly affected by Reliance Jio. However, they are managing by taking bank loans. The debt of Airtel is Rs.1,13,000 crores and the debt of Vodafone Idea is Rs.1,20,000 crores. These are all people’s money, taken as loan from banks. When private companies can freely avail people’s money as loans, to fulfil their requirements, why should BSNL not take bank loans? BSNL’s debt is only a few thousand crores, and it is nothing, compared to the huge debt of the private companies. The restriction on BSNL to avail bank loans is another big blow, intended to kill BSNL. The only means to break all these barriers is the indefinite strike. Educate the entire employees on such issues and organise them for a prolonged indefinite strike.
[Date : 19 – Nov – 2018] (bsnleu web)
