Senior govt officials meet to discuss relief measures for AGR-hit telecom industry

New Delhi: Senior officials of the telecom department and other key ministries met on Sunday to discuss urgent relief measures that can be extended to the telecom industry, which is battling an unprecedented crisis on account of massive statutory dues it owes the government.

The meeting, held at the Department of Telecom, lasted for over an hour and is said to have deliberated on options before the government to provide much-needed lifeline to the AGR-hit industry.

Telecom czar and Chairman of Bharti Airtel Sunil Mittal had last week made an appeal to the government for cut in levies and taxes to pull the sector out of what he had described as an “unprecedented crisis”.