BSNL employees protest closure of telegram service

Employees of BSNL under the banner of BSNL Employees Union held a daylong protest in front of office of general manager telecom, Ludhiana, opposing the closure of telegram services from July 15 onwards.

Employees of BSNL under the banner of BSNL Employees Union held a daylong protest in front of office of general manager telecom, Ludhiana, opposing the closure of telegram services from July 15 onwards.

Addressing the protesters, circle secretary of union Balbir Singh said, “BSNL management took a decision to close the telegram services from July 15 without consulting the recognised unions.”

“The plea of the BSNL management that the department is incurring heavy losses due to continuation of these services is far from the truth as the telegraph offices have already been converted into customer service centres. In the customer service centres in addition to telegram services telephone and mobile bills, bill deposit, telephone and mobile booking, duplicate bill issue facilities are being provided,” he said.

“The BSNL management has taken this decision in hasty manner and without consulting the stake holders. No doubt we entered the age of high speed internet and 4G services. But still telegraph services are being used by the public and government departments. Moreover the telegram services are still continuing in the developed countries such as Canada, Germany, France and Russia,” he expressed.