Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) employee union is not happy with the government’s decision of selling the company’s tower assets to the private sector. BSNL employees have expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s decision of selling the tower assets. For the unaware, the Indian government has plans to sell over 14,917 towers owned by BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). According to an ET Telecom report, P Abhimanyu, General Secretary, BSNL Employee Union, said that employees of the state-run telco are opposing this move from the government since selling the tower assets will only help the private sector and no one else.
BSNL Employee Union Might Go On Nationwide Protests
The BSNL employee union might soon go on nationwide protests. The body is currently in talks with other groups, and collectively, they will go on a nationwide protest. As per the publication’s analysis, a statement from Abhimanyu portrays that if the assets are sold to the private sector, it would be the first step towards the privatisation of BSNL and MTNL. The fear of BSNL employees is very understandable. This is because the assets are going to the private sector, and it is not going to help BSNL or MTNL leverage the situation in any manner. Thus, the deal is not very fruitful for the state-run telcos. According to the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) plan, the Narendra Modi led government wants to sell 14,917 mobile towers of BSNL and MTNL to the private sector. In addition to this, the government wants to sell state-funded 2.86-lakh kilometres of BharatNet’s optic fibre network along with 400 railway stations, 150 trains, and 26,700 kilometres of National Highway. BSNL employees don’t want this to happen since they are not going to benefit from the many in any manner. There is no confirmation on whether a nationwide protest is going to take place or not. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like the government will change its decision.
