Employee unions of state-run MTNL today said they will go on an indefinite 'work to rules' protest from July 24 demanding that the government bear the complete cost of pension.
The United Forum of MTNL Unions and Associations, a body comprising 12 unions of MTNL, today submitted a memorandum to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal demanding that pension to staff be paid by the Union Government instead of MTNL.
Chairman of the forum Mange Ram Sharma said 12 years ago when executives and non-executives of Department of Telecom (DoT) were absorbed in MTNL, the government had assured that pension to the staff would be paid by it for the combined service in DoT and MTNL at the time of retirement.
However, inspite of this assurance, MTNL is still asked to pay the pension to its retired employees, he added.
"MTNL is paying around Rs 470 crore annually to its retired employees and this amount keeps on increasing every month as more employees retire," Sharma told PTI.
He said this is creating additional burden on MTNL's finances. The forum also sought revision of pension for employees who retired prior to January 1, 2007.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, MTNL reported a loss of Rs 401.84 crore.