Cash-strapped BSNL’s Vijaywada unit sought loan from employees

With state-owned telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd facing major headwinds in the market, its General Manager for Vijaywada operations came up with a plan to take interest free loan from the staff. The proposal was to take ₹2,000 from non-executive staff and ₹5,000 from executive staff. However, the proposal was withdrawn a day later after opposition from some employees.

On October 5, the General Manager of BSNL’s office in Chhutugunta, Vijawada wrote an appeal letter to its employees to contribute money because of lack of cash flow.

The letter which is in possession of BusinessLine requested contribution of “corpus fund interest free loan” of “minimum ₹2,000 from each non-executive and ₹5,000 and above from each executive employee” because “the financial status of BSNL is day-by-day in a declining state”.

The letter further stated that “The SSAs are unable to clear bills such as electricity, rests, and vendor payments in time.” It also mentioned that for the past three months, the field officers had to pay the money from their pockets to maintain the network lines.

A day later on October 6, the letter was withdrawn citing “administrative” reasons.

When contacted Y Ravindranath, General Manager, Vijaywada circle told BusinessLine , “This letter was released on October 5 with the backing from the employees union. We requested for voluntary contribution. However, as soon as we released the letter, we realised it was a mistake and the next day we withdrew the letter. Simultaneously, the headquarters office in Delhi also asked me to withdraw the letter.” He also stated that no funds were collected from the employees.

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