Tuesday's traffic jams VSNL bonus issue too!

Tuesday's traffic jams VSNL bonus issue too!
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

JUNE 27: It wasn't just Mumbai's motorists who cussed and fumed for seven long hours today. Bumper-to-bumper traffic, which stretched from Bandra to Andheri, also tripped up a vital VSNL board meeting that was to consider the issue of bonus shares for shareholders. For Silicon Valley boss and Infosys chief, N R Narayana Murthy, the only virtual reality today was the logjam on the Western Express Highway. Ditto for former Eicher chief Subodh Bhargava of Delhi. With both of them stuck in traffic and able to make it to VSNL's South Mumbai headquarters four hours late, the meeting had to be postponed.

Says VSNL Director (Operations) Amithabh Kumar: ``The proposal to issue bonus shares was not taken up as some of the directors could not reach the venue due to traffic disturbances.'' Other directors waited for nearly four hours before the outstation directors could reach the venue. ``By the time they joined the meeting, it was time to break up. The board could only approve the accounts and dividend for the year ended March 2000.

Shareholders were naturally dejected. ``VSNL is supposed to be a high-tech company operating in internet and communication fields. It is strange that other board members could not get in touch with the directors who were caught in traffic and get their consent for the bonus issue,'' remarked a shareholder.