Paswan largesse put on hold

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JUNE 2. The Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan's largesse package has for now been put on the hold, thanks to timely intervention by the Prime Minister's Office. It could be a while, if at all, before the Minister would be able to deliver on his extravagant promise of providing free telephones to all employees of the Telecom Department.

For now, the Prime Minister's Office has asked for a report on the nature and contents of Mr. Paswan's munificence. The report has been sent to the Prime Minister's camp at Manali where Mr. Vajpayee is taking a break.

According to sources at the Manali camp, the Paswan largesse will have to be formally cleared first by the Telecom Commission. The proposal is being described as a case of ministerial initiative gone overboard, without having the collective sanction of the Vajpayee Government. Nor has it been appreciated that Mr. Paswan is trying to instigate the unions in his department in support of the ``free telephones'' bonanza.

The hope is that the Telecom Commission would be able to take the hard decision and spare the political leadership of having to make Mr. Paswan look rebuffed by the Prime Minister. The Telecom Commission as a body has yet to take a view on the propriety and the economics of Mr. Paswan's largesse.

However, even if the Telecom Commission finds it difficult to be seen as disagreeing with the Minister's proposal, the Vajpayee establishment would be inclined to see to it that the decision is rolled back. The matter could be referred to the Cabinet for a final view; however, the exigencies of coalition politics may not permit a clear-cut decision; the other alternative is that the Prime Minister could exercise his prerogative and veto the proposal.

Unions stand by Paswan decision

The unions today toughened their stance on the free phone announcement by Mr. Paswan and made it clear that it was non- negotiable. In fact, according to the unions, Mr. Paswan had corrected the ``irrational decision'' by the BJP leader and a former Sanchar Bhavan incumbent, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, of giving the facility only to retired staffers.

Even otherwise, the unions maintained, there was nothing wrong in giving phones to class III and class IV employees when the same Government has conferred financial benefits of much larger sums on the well-heeled and influence- peddlers. For instance, relief amounting to tens of thousands of crores was given to private phone companies through the telecom bailout package by the previous edition of the Vajpayee Government and despite all the tough talk of belt tightening and fiscal prudence, free phone calls for Members of Parliament were raised to an astounding one lakh.

The unions also suggested that Mr. Paswan was forced to appease his Ministry's staffers only after the Union Cabinet took the ``absurd'' step of refusing an additional Rs. 50 crores in perks for the employees. ``He could see through the absurdity of the Cabinet decision but he was helpless. Therefore, he was eager to assuage the feelings of the workers,'' said Mr. O. P. Gupta, heading the largest federation of telecom unions.

Even otherwise, there was reason to grant this bonanza to telecom employees. They had voluntarily foregone a couple of days' bonus in the last two financial years thus saving the Exchequer an expenditure of Rs. 28 crores. ``As the settlement of the demand of free phone facility is on a matching savings basis, it should be viewed in a rational manner,'' points out Mr. Gupta.

PTI adds:

Mr. Paswan said in Ranchi yesterday that there was no difference of opinion among members of the Union Cabinet on his decision to extend rent free phones to the Telecom employees.

Justifying his decision, he told reporters that the Telecom Department could easily afford the provision in view of the rs. 7,500 crore profit.

Moreover, the decision to provide rent free phones to class III/IV employees would work as a great incentive for them, he added.

The Congress (I) and the CPI(M) have attacked Mr. Paswan for announcing the largesse to the Telecom employees.

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