NEW DELHI, AUG 18
More than 10,000 BSNL engineers today went on an indefinite strike and other employees of the State-run telecom provider would cease work for the next two days from midnight Tuesday, affecting its services across the country.
The All India Graduate Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA) of engineers went on an indefinite strike demanding that officers on deputation from the department of telecom be absorbed into the company so that they become more accountable.
The United Forum of seven BSNL unions of 1.5 lakh non-executive employees will begin their strike at 12 a.m. on August 19 over a demand for wage revision and implementation of a promotion policy.
The indefinite strike by engineers would impact operations of the telecom firm as most of the striking engineers are heading the technical teams of different circles or zonal offices.
AIGETOA functionaries said the full impact of the strike would be felt over the next two days.
Customer services like collections and fault repairs would also be affected from tomorrow because of the participation of the non-technical staff, according to the unions.
The BSNL management was not available for comments on the impact of the strikes. However, to ensure that the strike does not disrupt operations, BSNL has set up a control room for managing the system during the strike.
BSNL currently has 50 million subscribers with a market share of 15.57 per cent.
