MTNL, BSNL to sell off Mumbai properties to state departments, PSUs

Union telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal has directed the state chief secretary to facilitate the purchase of MTNL, BSNL properties in Mumbai Metropolitan Region

MUMBAI: Union telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal has written a letter to various chief secretaries on May 21 to purchase properties of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Delhi. The MTNL headquarters on Veer Savarkar Road in Dadar are also up for sale as is the central administrative building of MTNL in Fort.

MTNL, BSNL to sell off properties to govt depts, organisations, PSUs

MTNL has been suffering severe losses, and several of its telephone exchanges have been given to various organisations. Some of the buildings are old and in bad shape due to disuse. The union cabinet in 2019 had approved a revival plan for BSNL/MTNL, which also included monetisation of its surplus land/building assets.

BSNL has an assets base spread over the country while MTNL has properties in Delhi and Mumbai, most of which are in prime locations. The properties are being offered through outright sale to government departments, PSUs and government organisations. Mittal’s letter says that this will help government organisations avail of the scheme of direct sale of PSUs to government organisations.

“We had a staff of nearly 12,000 persons, of which nearly 85 per cent took voluntary retirement from service or retired,” said MTNL executive director Deepak Mukherjee. “Now we have around 1,500 employees. We don’t require so much space so we will give our buildings to government and semi-government organisations.”

Mukherjee said that MTNL had been getting a good response from public sector undertakings. “Some requests have also come from the Maharashtra government and many have visited us for further information,” he added. MTNL chief engineer Ved Prakash said that the lesser used properties would be given away first.

“They are giving away 536 properties,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant, who heads the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Kamgar Sangh.

“The government had claimed that it wanted to save MTNL by selling properties. It did nothing, and now suddenly the ministry wants to sell the properties . The BJP has realised that it is losing and is thus selling off properties now. The secretary must be questioned why the letter is being issued when the code of conduct is on. The BJP has strangulated MTNL and sabotaged its plans under the pretext of Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

A senior Government of Maharashtra officer told HT that the government had already decided to buy the Air India building and did not need space urgently.

MTNL presently has 12 lakh landlines, 3 lakh broadband connections and 10 lakh cell phones in Mumbai.