Strike hits telecom operations

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 25. The two-day strike, called by telecom unions opposing the restructuring of the Department of Telecom (DoT), ended today with operations seriously affected in West Bengal, Kerala and North-East, but services elsewhere in the country were unaffected.

The National Action Committee of Telecom Organisations against Corporatisation, comprising seven pro-CPI (M) trade unions, claimed that three lakh employees participated in the strike, crippling services throughout the country. ``Southern States, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat were the worst hit by the strike,,' claimed Committee Convenor, Mr. V. A. N. Namboodri. Since Delhi and Mumbai already have corporations, the strike was not an issue at all in these metros.

An agitation by a different union was reported to have hit land line to mobile connectivity as well as some long distance circuits. The Telecommunication Engineering Services Association of India (TESA) is demanding redressal of some of their long pending grievances before corporatisation of the DoT.

More turmoil could be ahead because of the indefinite strike call by the three mainstream federations - NFTE, FNTO and BTEF. Reacting to this strike threat, the Union Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas, today issued a public appeal shortly before leaving for Tamil Nadu.

The Minister said every effort will be made to remove apprehensions in the minds of telecom employees with regard to corporatisation of the Department of Telecom Services and the Department of Telecom Operations (DTO). The Minister said matters relating to pay and pension of the employees will be fully protected and there was no question of dilution of their rights even after corporatisation.

Referring to one of the main concerns of the Federations with regard to the financial viability of the proposed Corporation, Mr. Paswan reiterated that the Government would take all possible steps to protect the financial viability of the corporatised DTO, particularly in the context of operations which are deemed unviable.

He said Government policy on implementation of NTP-99, including implementation of rural telephony was very clear and commitments made by the Government in this regard would be fully implemented. Necessary funds would be identified, either from the revenue sharing licence fee or direct funding by the Government. He emphasised that the government would fulfil its responsibility in this matter and find the necessary resources.

Appealing to the federations to call off their proposed strike, the Minister said that the Government had already constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) under his chairmanship to resolve all pending HRD-related issues such as pay fixation, pension, retirement benefits, job security etc. These issues were under active consideration of the GoM and every effort would be made to resolve them as early as possible.

The Minister observed that the GoM had already met several times and on a few occasions, the staff federations and unions were also invited to put across their concerns and views.

Their views were given full attention, so that there were no impediments to the timely implementation of the decision of the Government to corporatise DTS and DTO from October 1 this year.

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Section  : National
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