BSNL employees stage protest

The Dharwad Telecom District Committee of Karnataka State BSNL Non Permanent Workers Union staged a protest here on Wednesday seeking benefits that are due for the contract employees.

Staging the protest in front of the office of the General Manager of Dharwad Telecom Circle near Dr. Ambedkar Circle here, the protesters said that they were forced to face hardships and their rightful demands were not being considered.

The protestors included people working on contract basis in house keeping, cable maintenance and other sections of BSNL. They alleged that although Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was their original employer, it had not seriously considered their demands and consequently the contractors were exploiting the workers. The protestors also condemned the reported move by the union government to privatise BSNL and urged the Centre to make availing services of BSNL mandatory in government and aided offices and public sector undertakings.

They demanded a minimum pay of Rs. 15,000, skill pay for cable maintenance workers, regularisation of services of contract workers who had served for ten years and reinstatement of all those contract workers whose services had been discontinued without any valid reason.

The contract workers also objected to deductions from their pays in the name of service tax and sought mandatory implementation of laws relating to Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance Corporation.

Addressing the protestors General Secretary of District Committee Mahesh Pattar, trade union leaders Harish Doddamani and B.N. Poojari urged the BSNL senior officials to regularly check the implementation of the labour laws by the contract agencies.

Contract workers serving in the BSNL exchanges of Gadag, Haveri and Dharwad district participated in the agitation.