JOINT ACTION COMMITTEE OF ASSOCIATIONS / UNIONS
OF BSNL EXECUTIVES & NON-EXECUTIVES
D-7,
______________________________________________________________________________________
2G – Historical Verdict of Supreme Court
The
Joint Action Committee of BSNL Associations and Unions of Executives and
Non-Executives heartily welcomes the verdict of Supreme Court canceling 122
2G Licenses of 11 telecom companies which secured licences
through illegal and irregular methods in 2008. The judgment has exposed the
biggest corruption estimated at 1.76 Lakh crore by CAG.
The
JAC has been continuously demanding the cancellation of these illegal licences, impose penalty on them and also book the corrupt
politicians and government officers involved.
The
telecom sector, after privatisation, has been witness
to all kinds of corruptive practices, tax-evasion by showing less revenue,
conversion of ISD/STD calls in to local calls for avoiding taxes, and
so on. The DOT as well as TRAI/TDSAT have been taking a soft stand on all
these illegal activities and bailing out them, instead of taking strong
measures to curb the corruptive practices.
In
addition, the telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL has
been the victims of these irregularities, since the private companies benefited
while BSNL / MTNL have acted as per all rules and regulations paying taxes etc.
In
order to implement the so-called ‘reforms’ and neo-liberal policies, the
government has been acting on a pro-private and anti PSU line, which has been
clearly exposed now.
The
JAC demands the government to have a fresh look on all the earlier irregular
transactions in the telecom sector and introduce transparent and pro-people
line, instead of granting undue favour to the MNCs and corporates in the
telecom sector.
The
connections provided by some of the companies whose licences
have been cancelled are given below:
1.
Uninor (Telenor) 363.06 lakh
2.
Siestama Shyam 150.06 lakh
3.
Videocon 54.42 lakh
4.
S.Tel
35.49 lakh
5.
Loop
32.36 lakh
6.
Etisalat 16.70 lakh
Some
licences of Tata and Idea
are cancelled. But they had earlier licences also.
Hence how much their connections will be affected can not be easily mentioned.
Idea has got 1063.81 lakh and Tata 834.92 lakh connections. It can be said that about 5 crore to 10 crore connections may
be effected. It is a crucial time for BSNL to increase its connections.
V.A.N.Namboodiri,
Convener,
JAC