Black Thursday: BSNL employees hoist black flags all over India, slam Modi govt for indifferent approach

Slamming the Modi government and the management of the debt-ridden, state-owned BSNL, thousands of its employees organized black-flag protest all across the country on Thursday.

Under the banner of the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB), employees launched the hour-long black flag hoisting protest after lunch hour and reiterated their demands such as payment of dues, restoration of 4G tender and compensation for those who died due to COVID-19 during the lockdown.

“Employees working at different offices of BSNL launched protest simultaneously all over India and slammed Modi government for lethargy and indifferent approach in not taking expeditious steps for reviving BSNL during the protest” said a union leader.

The employees demanded:

• BSNL should immediately be allowed to roll out its 4G Services
• BSNL should take immediate actions to upgrade the 4G compatible BTSs
• Order for 4G equipment should be issued immediately
• In the matter of procuring new equipment and upgradation, there should not be any discrimination between BSNL and other private telecom service providers

• The Management should ensure that the salary payment of the employees is made on the last working of every month
• Deductions made from employees’ salary, on account of society dues, should immediately be remitted
• Management should pay Rs.10 lakh to the families of the employees who die due to COVID-19, based on the instructions issued by the DoT in such cases

“Even after the lapse of 9 months, the implementation of the much-publicized BSNL’s Revival Package, including the rolling out of 4G service, is moving at snail’s pace. Except the swift retrenchment of 79,000 BSNL employees under VRS, all other assurances given in BSNL’s Revival Package have been put in cold storage,” said the AUAB.

“Even at a time when COVID-19 is spreading fast, the employees are not getting cashless-treatment from empanelled hospitals. It is the duty of the management to ensure that COVID-19 affected employees get good quality treatment,” added AUAB.