Representatives of some employee unions and officer associations of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. met
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and offered their full support to
the relief package, voluntary retirement scheme and asset monetisation
plans announced by the government recently, sources said.
It
may be recalled that the government last month had approved a plum Rs
69,000 crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that includes merging the
two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and giving VRS to
employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.
The
minister had on Nov. 1 directed BSNL and MTNL to implement VRS
guidelines quickly, and initiate proactive measures to monetise assets
in a time-bound manner, while making it clear that they must become more
aggressive in telecom market.
Sources
privy to the development said that the minister also met the employee
unions and officer associations on Monday and that they assured of their
support to implementation of the relief package.
The
Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, on Oct. 23,
approved a plan to combine Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. - which
provides services in Mumbai and New Delhi - with Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Ltd. that services the rest of the nation.
The
rescue package approved includes infusion of Rs 20,140 crore capital
for purchase of 4G spectrum, Rs 3,674 crore for GST to be paid on
spectrum allocation, companies raising Rs 15,000 crore in debt on the
sovereign guarantee and government funding Rs 17,160 crore voluntary
retirement scheme and another Rs 12,768 crore towards retirement
liability.
The two firms will monetise assets worth Rs 37,500 crore in the next three years.
MTNL
has reported losses in nine of the past 10 years and BSNL too has been
ringing in loss since 2010. The total debt on both the companies stood
at Rs 40,000 crore, of which half of the liability is on MTNL alone.