Date:25/11/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/11/25/stories/2005112513300400.htm

New Delhi

MTNL, BSNL have lost over 2,000 crores, say officers

Special Correspondent

`Removal of officers from key posts led to delay in projects by the two PSUs

NEW DELHI: The removal of 1,200 Group A officers from key posts in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has led to a financial setback of over Rs. 2,000 crores to the two State-owned public sector undertakings in the form of delayed projects and lost revenue-earning opportunities, according to senior officers of the Indian Telecom Service (ITS) cadre here.

The officials, who assumed charge recently at some places following court orders, listed the major projects that suffered due to their absence. Work in the corporate offices of BSNL and MTNL has came to a "complete standstill'' and projects worth over Rs. 26,000 crores, including the mega tender for the Rs. 6 crore GSM cellular phones, have suffered badly.

Affected projects

Other projects that were affected included the 20 lakh broadband multi-play tender, new technology TAX tender, broadband VAS tenders, according to ITS Association president S. S. Sirohi.

The total loss due to the delay in these projects in the BSNL is estimated at Rs. 1,200 crores in addition to the Rs. 400 crores due to interest on unutilised capital investments.

In addition, there were negligible customer additions from the various GSM projects that were launched recently or about to be launched.

These include no rollout of 40 lakh GSM lines for South India launched in August and the postponement of the 30 lakh GSM lines for east India and 30 lakh GSM lines for west India. The loss in revenues on these accounts has been estimated at Rs. 100 crores.

Similarly, in MTNL, the 40 lakh GSM launch targeted for October has been deferred to December, the 8 lakh line CDMA launch scheduled in October has been delayed indefinitely and the two million broadband tender scheduled to open on October 18 has also been postponed. The losses have been estimated at Rs. 440 crores.

About 1,200 officers were repatriated to the Department of Telecom (DoT) and not allocated any work for over a month. Another 1,000 officers could attend office after getting stay orders from courts. Since these officers are top of the hierarchy, including some in the rank of Additional Secretary, BSNL and MTNL were left "directionless."

Mr. Sirohi said the Union Communications Ministry was also lax in pursuing the case of granting navratna status to BSNL and Schedule `A' for its board of directors even though the PSU's turnover is over Rs. 36,000 crores. On the other hand, companies with far lesser turnover such as BHEL, ONGC and NTPC became `navratnas' a number of years ago.