BSNL to use Internal Accruals to clear Salary Dues of February

Guwahati: Telephone Operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said that it would use internal accruals to clear salary dues of around Rs.850 crores by March 20.

The company failed to pay salaries for the last month to the employees which is around 1.76 lakhs.

Managing Director and Chairman of BSNL, Anupam Shrivastava said that the company expects internal accruals of around Rs. 850 crore in this month and the amount will be used to disburse of salaries. He also said that there will be no pending amount following this disbursal.

The company has also informed its employee representatives that the disbursal will be made by March 20.

It has further been informed by BSNL Spokesperson Sanjay Kumar Sinha that the salaries of employees in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and BSNL Corporate office have already been released excluding the senior officers and board members.

It has been reported that BSNL employees union had also written a letter to Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha earlier requesting the government to release funds to the company to pay the salaries.

The unions and associations of the telecom department claims that the telecom industry's financial sector has been suffered due to the predatory pricing of Reliance Jio. The letter issued by the union said that other operators have also faced the financial crises but they are managing the situation by infusing huge amounts.

According to a report, the telecom operator is allowed to take loan only for capital expenditure in accordance with the rules laid by the Department of Telecom (DoT) saying that BSNL has a debt of Rs. 13,900crore while Airtel has Rs. 1.13 lakh crore debt and Vodafone Rs. 1.2 lakh crore debt.

A loss of Rs 8,000 crore in Financial Year 2018, significantly up from a loss of Rs 4,786 crore in Financial Year in 2017 has been reported by BSNL and losses in Financial Year 2019 are expected to rise even further.

According to sources, BSNL has been incurring losses for the past five years and this default could indicate stormy times ahead for the telecom firm as competition in the telecom sector rises.

Also Read: NATIONAL NEWS