Govt. Will Remove Pension For BSNL Employees; VRS Scheme Can Be Shut Down To Save Money

No Pension for BSNL Employees

Big news coming in related to the future of BSNL employees and the company as a whole: Pension for all new BSNL employees can be stopped, and the VRS scheme for existing employees can be removed as well.



This news comes only a day after several mainstream news publications reported about a new VRS scheme for existing employees.



If pension and VRS, both are scrapped, then this leaves BSNL employees in a very precarious situation.



No Pension For New BSNL Employees?



As per an exclusive report from Business Standard, Govt is planning a new recruitment policy for BSNL employees.



If the proposal is accepted, then every new BSNL employee will be hired on a contractual basis, and this means, there will be no pension.



This way, BSNL will save money on pension, and other related expenses for employee benefits.



As per Business Standard, “Future recruitment in the company would be on contractual basis, saving the company pension payment in the coming years and several other allowances that the permanent employees are entitled to..”



VRS Scheme May Be Removed As Of Now



Another big blog for BSNL employees: VRS or Voluntary Retirement Scheme for BSNL employees can be scraped as well.



In the last few days, reports had emerged that BSNL will roll out VRS scheme for employees who are aged 50 or more.



The plan was to reduce salary expenses this way.



As per the proposal by Govt., half of the VRS expenses will be borne by Govt., and the other half by the Department of Telecom.



Now, there are around 70,000 employees in BSNL, who are about to retire in the next 5-6 years.

Even if only half of the 55+ aged employees decide to opt for VRS, then BSNL will be required to pay 40,000 employees their VRS payments: 35 days of salary for each year of service and 25 days of the salary for the remaining years.



On the other hand, MTNL has 22,000 employees out of which 16,000 will retire in the next 5-6 years.



A senior BSNL official said, “If this proposal is accepted then there would be no immediate VRS roll out,”



BSNL’s total debt is Rs 13,000+ crore, and under the current circumstances, it is highly unlikely that BSNL will roll out the VRS scheme.



Then, how will BSNL reduce their expenses?



We will keep you updated, as more details come in.



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