Centre wants to shut BSNL, MTNL to help ‘friends’: Congress

The Congress on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “promoted private telecom companies of his friends” at the expense of state-owned BSNL and MTNL.

Addressing a press conference, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala cited a media report to allege that the Modi government would retrench as many as 54,000 employees of BSNL once the elections were over by advancing the retirement age from 60 to 58 and offering them voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

The news report, published in a Hindi daily, claimed that state-owned BSNL’s Board of Directors had already taken the decision the downsize to improve its financial health.