Updated: 13 Aug 2020

New Delhi:

          BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde on 10 August stirred up a controversy by saying that BSNL is filled with 'traitors' who aren't willing to work to develop a well-known firm. He said more than 88,000 employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited will be fired.

"The government has given money, people require services and there is infrastructure. Yet, they (BSNL staff) don't work. PM talks of Digital India, has provided funds and technology. Yet, they are not willing to work," he added. The state-owned telecom firm's losses have swelled by over 2.5 times to ₹39,089 crore during the April-December 2019 period, Minister of State for Telecommunications Sanjay Dhotre has informed Parliament in March 2020.The public sector telecom firm had recorded a loss of ₹14,904 crore in the previous financial year 2018-19.

"BSNL has informed that its total accumulated loss during the current financial year i.e. 2019-20 (upto December 31, 2019) is ₹39,089 crore," Dhotre said in a written reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The government on October 23 last year approved a ₹68,751-crore revival package for loss-making BSNL and MTNL, including 4G spectrum allocation and voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).The Union Cabinet also approved merger of the state-owned telecom firms and till the completion of the process, MTNL will operate as a subsidiary of BSNL.

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