Vijayawada JAC

BSNL JAC opposes committee recommendations
Staff Reporter VIJAYAWADA: The BSNL Officials and Employees' Joint Action Committee (JAC) has expressed strong reservations against the recommendations of the Sam Pitroda-headed three-member committee for reducing workforce in the telecommunications company besides suggesting introduction of outsourcing at various levels.
The JAC leaders dismissed as unscientific the recommendation of the Pitroda committee regarding the comparison of operations and services rendered by the BSNL and the private telecom companies in the process of recommending changes.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, JAC district chairman K. Dharmangadudu and convener K. Prasada Rao and others said they would organise protest programmes as part of the nation-wide calls given by their associations. An indefinite strike will be observed from April 20 for which they appealed to the employees to participate and make it a grand success. Earlier, a dharna was held at the telecom district office in the city on March 26 in support of their demands.
The JAC leaders demanded that the process of ITS officers being integrated into the BSNL should be completed without losing further time. They also sought the withdrawal of the proposal to give up the Government's stake of 30 per cent in the BSNL. Also, the move to remove one lakh employees of the BSNL in the name of VRS or transfers should be withdrawn. The efforts to introduce outsourcing should be stopped immediately.
The JAC district leaders said while the Pitroda committee was constituted to suggest measures for the protection of the BSNL, it made recommendations that would destabilise it and harm the interests of lakhs of its employees. They asserted that the BSNL had got the credit to have provided telecom services in the every nook and corner of the country at affordable prices. It was the BSNL which got the 80 per cent market in the landline services across the country.
The JAC leaders deplored that it was because of the harmful policies of the Government.