BSNL may junk VRS plan; all future recruitments to be on contract basis

Future recruitment in the company would be on contractual basis, saving the company pension payment in the coming years

The wage bill for around 70,000 Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) employees, who are over 55 years old, will be equally split between the Department of Telecommunications and the Centre, according to a proposal in the works. After this, all recruitments would be on contractual basis to keep the wage bill low. 

This proposal, which rules out the need to roll out a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) immediately, would be taken up for consideration on Thursday at a meeting headed by the Cabinet secretary. Possible merger of BSNL and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam  (MTNL) is to be discussed, too. 

A senior official said there