New Delhi, December 30: With just a day remaining for 2019 to end, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar said on Monday that they are clearing the vendor dues worth Rs 1700 crore, which were pending for more than six months. Along with this, the public service undertaking telecom enterprise also cleared November salaries worth Rs 800 crore for employees. As per to the estimates, BSNL has to pay almost Rs 10,000 crore to creditors.
Informing more about the latest development, Purwar told the media, "These dues include payments for both capex and opex which were pending for over 6 months. These have been made through internal accruals and loans. The total dues to creditors as of now is almost Rs 10,000 crore." Adding more, he hoped that the stability in the salary payment schedule would be possible in the upcoming 2-3 months. BSNL, MTNL Crisis: Over 78,000 Employees Opt For VRS Ahead of Merger, Confirms CMD.
Earlier on December 17, Purwar had informed that 78,569 employees have availed the voluntary retirement scheme, which was offered by the Narendra Modi government. As per the PSU, a yearly saving of Rs 1,300 Crore -- in wages -- is expected in the financial year 2019-20, after the scheme takes effect on 31 January, 2020.
Not only BSNL, its metro subsidiary Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited has also received 14,300 employees' VRS application, after the Union Telecom Ministry rolled out the scheme of VRS on November 5. The Union Cabinet had in October approved a Rs 69,000 crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL. 'MTNL, BSNL to Merge': Ravi Shankar Prasad Announces After Cabinet Meet, Trashes Disinvestment Speculations.
In other development, as per Purwar, BSNL had also identified 14 land parcels worth Rs 20,000 crore for monetisation purposes.
The package includes:
1) Expense of Rs 20,140 crore for purchase of 4G spectrum.
2) Rs 3,674 crore for GST to be paid on spectrum allocation.
3) Both BSNL and MTNL to raise Rs 15,000 crore in debt on the sovereign guarantee.
4) Infusion of Rs 17,160 crore for VRS, and
5) Another approval of Rs 12,768 crore towards retirement liability.
Taking a look at the cash-crunched statues of the PSU, the Centre had also made it clear that both BSNL and MTNL will have to monetise assets worth Rs 37,500 crore over the next three years.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2019 06:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).