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ITSA said, "The fact that DoT took the matter to the Cabinet is extremely unfortunate as they did not discuss the package with us."

New Delhi , Sept. 29

THE stalemate between the Indian Telecom Services (ITS) officers and the Government over getting absorbed in BSNL and MTNL continued with the former rejecting a package approved on Thursday by the Union Cabinet. The Cabinet has offered the officers the option to take pension from the Government fund. The Government has also extended the deadline from September 30 to October 15 for accepting the offer.

The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, told newspersons after a meeting of the Cabinet that the Government hoped that the ITS officers would accept the package offered by the Government.

A press release issued by DoT said, "It is made clear that they will not have any loss of emoluments on absorption. The senior officers would be eligible for stagnation increment. The Government has also offered special allowance resulting in about 25 per cent increase in emoluments per month for each officer."

The officers will also be entitled to the benefit of addition of five years qualifying service for pension, in case they seek voluntary retirement on completion of 20 years of service. The Separate Association of absorbed Group `A' officers in BSNL and in MTNL would also be allowed.

`Will lose out on promotions': The ITS Officers Association (ITSA), representing 2,000 telecom officers, however, said that the package did not address their concerns.

"The fact that the department of telecom took the matter to the Cabinet is extremely unfortunate as they did not discuss the package with us. Our main concern is that if we agree to get absorbed in BSNL or MTNL then we face reduction in promotion avenues and a decrease in pay by about 10-20 per cent. These have not been addressed. We hope to discuss the matter with DoT and continue to work for the public sector companies," said ITSA.

After corporatisation of the Department of Telecom Services and the Department of Telecom Operations, around four lakh employees were transferred on deemed deputation to BSNL and MTNL for a period up to five years. The period of deemed deputation ends on September 30, 2005. So far, Group B, C and D officers totalling about 3,98,000 have been absorbed in these two organisations.

DoT said that in the event sufficient number of Group `A' officers do not become available in BSNL and MTNL, the Government has decided upon a contingency plan, including availing of the expertise of the Group `B' officers, seeking the services (on contract) of the retired officers, taking help from the vendors to manage the exchanges, availing the services of officers from postal service, Railways, and take the assistance of the Armed Forces to assist in the maintenance of telecom services.

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