PSUs such as RailTel, Gail & PowerGrid eye 1,500 Indian Telecom Service officials from BSNL

KOLKATA: Public sector units such as RailTel, Gail and PowerGrid are keen to tap into the pool of 1,500 plus Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officials who have been transferred to the telecoms department from state-owned BSNL. The three PSUs, which are part of a special purpose vehicle that will execute the 20,000-crore national broadband project, may collectively absorb over 200 senior ITS officials as they have a paucity of top telecom specialists.

More than 1,500 ITS officers who were deputed to BSNL 11 years ago when it was spun off into a separate corporate entity have now been asked to return to the technical wing of DoT. But BSNL has sought special permission to hold on to these top executives who wish to return to the DoT.