The Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) that the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has rolled out has elicited a good response; over 22,800 employees have till now applied for it as of Thursday evening.
According to a source close to the development, BSNL has got a very excellent response and the management and the workers’ unions are expecting this momentum to continue till the closing date. “There have also been a lot of enquiries coming on to BSNL’s portal, a sign that the scheme is expected to be a success,” the same source said.
The VRS scheme, which opened on November 4, will close at 5.30 pm on December 3. BSNL plans to offer the scheme to employees above 50 years of age and expects at least 80,000 personnel to avail it. The ailing PSU has also not credited October salary, which it pays on the last working day of the month.
At Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), on the other hand, a little over 1,000 employees have applied for the scheme as of Wednesday, another source said.
“The employees of both BSNL and MTNL are under duress to opt for the VRS as the management are threatening them with mass transfers and reducing retirement age to 58, while a delay in salaries is another reason,” AK Kaushik, convener of United Forum of MTNL Union and Association (Delhi-Mumbai), told the media.
About 15,000 out of the total 22,000 employees at MTNL were estimated to be eligible for the scheme, which was expected to bring down employee costs to 25 percent of revenue from the present 85 percent by February.
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