60,000 BSNL, MTNL employees have opted for VRS till date

Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash has revealed that more than 57,000 employees of BSNL have opted for its VRS in the last few days and the figures when combined with that of state-owned MTNL exceed 60,000.

The number of VRS optees have steadily risen since the plan was announced earlier this week. On Friday alone, the number for BSNL climbed from 40,000 in the late afternoon to over 57,000 by evening.

Prakash has said that the response was "unprecedented", and that the government's overall target stood at 94,000. The government last month had approved a plum Rs 69,000 crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that includes merging the two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and offering VRS to employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.

It is counted that nearly one lakh BSNL employees are eligible for the VRS out of its total staff strength of 1.50 lakh. The scheme that was rolled out on November 5 will be open till December 3. BSNL is looking at a savings of about Rs 7,000 crore in wage bill, if 70,000-80,000 personnel opt for the scheme.

According to 'BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme - 2019' all regular and permanent employees of BSNL including those on deputation to other organisations or posted outside BSNL on deputation basis, who attended the age of 50 years or above are eligible to seek voluntary retirement under the scheme. The amount of ex-gratia for any eligible employee will be equal to 35 days salary for each completed year of service and 25 days salary for every year of service left until superannuation.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) too has rolled out a VRS for its employees. The scheme, based on Gujarat Model of VRS, will be open for employees till December 3, 2019. In a notice issued by MTNL to its employees, it is mentioned that "all regular and permanent employees of 50 years and above as on January 31, 2020" are eligible to opt for the scheme.