BSNL, MTNL aging staff to get Rs 30,000 crore VRS deal

NEW DELHI: A generous VRS package — amounting to nearly Rs 30,000 crore — awaits the aging employees of BSNL and MTNL, two of India’s biggest loss-making PSUs, as the government announced steps to revive them and reduce their massive manpower, which had been a big drain on resources.


To be offered to those above age of 50, it promises to pre-pay nearly ten years of salary in advance apart from handsome pensionary benefits, bringing home Diwali celebrations early for employees who till just a few days back were holding out protests against the government over delays in salary and speculation that the companies may be ordered to shut down in view of continued losses.

Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government has taken special steps to offer employees valuable VRS packages, so that a large number of aging workers opt for it. “However, let me add that this will be voluntary and there will be no forced deals.”

As per the VRS package, an employee above the age of 53-and-a-half years will get 125% of today’s salary and this would include the pension payout. As per an official report released in June, BSNL had over 1.16 lakh employees over age of 50 years (total staff strength: 1.65 lakh), while MTNL had 19,000 employees over age of 50 years (total staff strength: 21,679) K Sebastian, eader of BSNL employees’ union said VRS will receive a good response. “It is better than our expectations, and meets most of our demands.”