Standing Committee seeks BSNL’s inclusion in LWE-II program

NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology (IT) has expressed its utter surprise on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) move to exclude state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) from the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) – II initiative despite the telco’s revival in full swing.

“The Committee is at a loss to understand when the revival of BSNL is priority of the government and the revival package is being worked out, why BSNL was not considered to participate in the bidding (LWE-II) process,” the panel in its finding said.

The LWE initiative, driven by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is considered to be critical in nature following in the wake of national security, with experts warning against inclusion of any foreign vendor.