Govt to pay pension, BSNL officers intensify stir

Govt to pay pension, BSNL officers intensify stir

NEW DELHI, SEPT 25: The government today said it would pay pension to the four lakh employees of the proposed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, even as the officers intensified their 10-day old `work to rule' agitation seeking cadre protection.

An official statement said "government will devise a suitable mechanism to get pensionary contributions from BSNL paid to the government for the period of service rendered (by employee) in the company after absorption."

The statment quoted Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan asserting that pensionary benefits including family pension would be paid by the government. However, it avoided any reference to the Consolidated Fund of India.

To end the indefinite strike by three major federations, the government had agreed to pay pension from the Consolidated Fund on September 8 and copies of the agreement were distributed.

Blaming a section of the media `for inadvertently misreporting' on the issues of pension, earned leave, half-pay leave and general provident fund, the statement said earned leave and half-pay leave at the credit of the employees would be transferred to BSNL.

Meanwhile, the talks between government and the Indian Telecom Service Association (ITSA) remained inconclusive as the officers stuck to their stand that the ITS cadre should be protected in the new corporation. ITSA had intensified its agiation from this morning.

"The government has in-principle agreed to protecting the cadre for five years, but we are not ready to agree for any time-bound protection", U K Srivastava, ITSA chief told PTI. The talks would resume on Wednesday.