BSNL strike total in State

he strike called by the officers and employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Wednesday was total in the State. When contacted by The Hindu here, BSNL Kerala Circle Chief General Manager (CGM) K.S. Sreenivasan conceded that more than 95 per cent of the employees and officers in the State had abstained from work.

He however said the strike had not affected the working of the exchanges or the transmission system anywhere in the State. But fault repairs, cash transactions and other allied works totally remained suspended.

The call for the strike was jointly given by BSNL Employees Union, National Union of BSNL Workers (FNTO), Sanchar Nigam Executives’ Association, All- India BSNL Executives’ Association, NFTE BSNL, Telecom Employees’ Progressive Union and BSNL Mazdoor Sangh, to protest against the alleged attempt of the Central Government and the Union Communication Minister to ‘sabotage the development of BSNL in the mobile sector.’

The leaders of the agitating unions said the strike was total. According to them, only one officer other than the CGM reported for duty in the CGM’s office in the State capital.

The situation was similar in the Principal General Manager’s offices here as well as in the General Manager’s office in the various district headquarters.

The striking unions kept the gates of the offices and exchanges locked in several places. However, they said they had made arrangements to tackle any major breakdown.

The unions alleged that the Communication Minister’s move to re-tender the contract for mobile equipment would derail the proposed expansion plan of BSNL to give 4.5 crore new mobile connections.