Executives of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited affiliated to various associations staged a day-long dharna, on Friday, in front the General Manager's office protesting against special recruitment for Indian Telecom Service (ITS) Officers on elevated posts.
The executives said that while all the former Department of Telecom employees and officers were absorbed by the BSNL when it was formed in 2000, the ITS officers, in the rank of General Managers, Chief General Managers and a section of Deputy General Managers were serving in BSNL on deputation. Many of them, who had left the BSNL then, were now being recruited through special rules on an elevated position and also on a higher pay package. The protestors said such recruitment would affect their promotional chances. Besides, they demanded pay-scale earlier accepted by the management for Junior Telecom Officers, Junior Accounts Officers, Sub-Divisional Engineer and Accounts Officers.
The protest was led by district presidents, M. Raghamthullah (Sanchar Nigam Executive Association), K. Subbukalai All India BSNL Executives Association and K. Vairamathi, All India Graduate Engineer Telecom Officers' Association.