BSNL employees seek PM's help; demand change of top brass

Upset by deteriorating market share and falling revenues, the employees' associations of BSNL have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention and demanded change in management and induction of professionals in the Board to run the PSU.

Upset by deteriorating market share and falling revenues, the employees' associations of BSNL have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention and demanded change in management and induction of professionals in the Board to run the PSU.

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"We have written to the Prime Minister's Office to look into the matter among other things. There is absence of professional management at the Board level at BSNL," the President of All India Graduate Engineer Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA), NJP Shilohu Rao, said.

The association (AIGETOA) represents over 10,000 graduate engineers and account professionals at BSNL.

"We are also planning to meet Sam Pitroda, who is the IT adviser to the Prime Minister, and raise these issue with him," he added.

This comes in the wake of BSNL's deteriorating market share in the last various quarters and has come down to fourth place after Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and RCom. Even revenues have taken a hit last year.

BSNL’s revenues dipped by about 12 per cent in 2008-09 to over Rs 33,000 crore but its market share, especially in the mobile telephony, took a bigger hit.

Drawing comparison between another ailing PSU Air India, the association said, "The decision to employ prominent and professionally well qualified COO in place of old brass is path-breaking in the history of public sector enterprises.