Half of BSNL employees opt for VRS: Official reports

Over 77,000 BSNL employees of state-owned BSNL have opted for the recently launched Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) so far, according to a source.

Nearly one lakh BSNL employees are eligible for the VRS out of its total staff strength of about 1.50 lakh. The effective date of voluntary retirement under the present scheme is January 31, 2020. A BSNL official told PTI that the number of employees who have opted for the VRS till now has crossed 77,000.

The BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme – 2019, that was rolled out recently, will remain open till December 3. BSNL is looking at savings of about ₹7,000 crore in wage bill, if 70,000-80,000 personnel opt for the scheme.

According to the plan, all regular and permanent employees of BSNL including those on deputation to other organisations or posted outside the corporation on deputation basis, who attended the age of 50 years or above are eligible to seek voluntary retirement under the scheme.

The amount of ex-gratia for any eligible employee will be equal to 35 days salary for each completed year of service and 25 days salary for every year of service left until superannuation.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) too has rolled out a VRS for its employees. The scheme, based on Gujarat Model, will be open for employees till December 3, 2019. The Union Cabinet had last month approved a plan to combine MTNL – which provides services in Mumbai and New Delhi – with BSNL that services the rest of the nation.

The rescue package approved by the government includes infusion of ₹20,140 crore for purchase of 4G spectrum, ₹3,674 crore for GST to be paid on spectrum allocation, companies raising ₹15,000 crore in debt on the sovereign guarantee and government funding ₹17,160 crore VRS and another ₹12,768 crore towards retirement liability.

Also read: Why Centre’s bid to resuscitate ailing BSNL, MTNL may go in vain