Continuing their strike for the 10th consecutive day, BSNL employees, under the banner of All India Graduate Engineers & Telecom Officers’ Association (AGETOA), on Friday reiterated their demands as part of their demonstration on the premises of BSNL Bhavan at Chuttugunta on Thursday.
As part of a nation-wide protest, the employees embarked on a week-long mass leave from Monday in protest against what they allege as ‘discriminatory attitude of the BSNL management and its planned move to make the PSU a sick unit’.
The protests began on July 15 with a week-long mass signature campaign by the employees. The mass leave protest from July 22 to July 27 will be followed by a collective dharna in front of the BSNL corporate office in New Delhi on July 29.
On Thursday, the demonstrators gathered on the BSNL main office premises displaying placards that reiterated their demands. They also raised slogans in support of their demands.
The employees are seeking immediate steps for finalisation of standard pay-scale as directed by the Department of Public Enterprise followed by 2nd Pay Revision Commission, implementation of 30 per cent superannuation benefits in respect of direct recruits.
Their other demands include resolution of the EPF anomalies in respect of direct recruits, immediate cancellation of mass displacement in the Limited Department Competitive Examination (LDCE), maintaining uniformity in first time bound upgradation i.e. four years and provision of facilities to the BSNL employees on a par with others in the public sector units.
Association’s Krishna district secretary D. Venu Gopala Rao, president G. Abraham Samuel, Central Working Committee member Fazal Ahmed and assistant circle secretary P. Veerabhadra Rao led the demonstration.
