BSNL employees call off 3-day nationwide strike

KOLKATA: The three-day nation-wide strike by BSNL employees was withdrawn on the second day after talks were held between agitating Joint Action Committee leaders and the management in New Delhi late tonight.

JAC West Bengal Convenor Animesh Mitra told PTI that the strike was called off following talks between the committee leaders and DOT Secretary, BSNL CMD which addressed among others, the two major contentious issues - scrapping of the divestment proposal and quick clearance of tender of nine million GSM lines.

As for rolling out GSM connections, the management informed that there will be 55 lakh BSNL mobile lines in the north and eastern regions this financial year, he said, adding, it was also stated that the target would be 1.5 crore GSM connections in the next fiscal.

Telecom authorities also assured there will be no disinvestment proposal as of now and promised to look into the issue in future, Mitra said, adding, an MoU was signed between the two sides.

The strike by BSNL employees, however, did not lead to major service disruption in Bengal and elsewhere.

The JAC was a forum of several trade unions, excepting those affiliated to Trinamool Congress.