THE employees and officers of BSNL, organised black-flag demonstrations throughout the country on July 16, 2020, protesting against the cancellation of BSNL’s tender to procure 4G equipments. Day-long black-badge wearing was also done by the employees and officers on that day.

The All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB), the umbrella organisation of all the major trade unions and officers’ associations, organised these programmes. Lockdown, prohibition under section 144 and other severe restrictions are imposed throughout the country, to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. Despite these restrictions, the black-flag demonstrations and wearing of black-badges are successfully organised throughout the country.

The restrictions imposed in the movements of people, like lock-down, prohibition under section 144, etc, are being exploited to the hilt, by the Narendra Modi government, for pushing through its privatisation agenda and also for curtailing the hard-won rights of the working class. It is during this period, that the big-bang privatisation of the Indian Railways has taken off, with the handing over of 109 pairs of high-speed passenger trains to the corporates. Similarly, the coal mines are also being handed over to the Indian and foreign corporates. The ordnance factories, under the ministry of defence, are being corporatised, to facilitate their privatisation.

The hard-won rights of the working class, like the eight hour working day, are being taken away.  All these swift moves of the Narendra Modi government are being made at a time when the working class is handicapped from making massive mobilisations, due to the restrictions imposed in the movements of the people, to contain the spread of Covid-19.

As part of the overall attacks being launched on the public sector of the country, BSNL, the public sector telecom service provider, has also come under severe attack from the Modi government. While paying lip-service for the revival of BSNL, the government is trying its best to see that BSNL does not start its 4G service, which is sine-qua-non for its revival.

It is to achieve this goal, that the Modi government has cancelled the tender floated by BSNL to procure 50,000 4G Base Transceivers (BTSs), for rolling out its 4G service. Similarly, the government has also thrown the spanner in the upgradation of BSNL’s 49,300 existing BTSs, into 4G BTSs. The AUAB, which met online on July 6, 2020, has decided to organise a series of programmes, demanding the immediate rolling out of BSNL’s 4G service, together with the settlement of some of the burning issues of the employees.

According to the decisions taken, the black-flag demonstrations and wearing of black-badges by the employees, were successfully organised on July 16, 2020. The AUAB has also decided to meet all the MPs and present memorandum, seeking their help for the expeditious rolling out of BSNL’s 4G service. The AUAB will also be organising a twitter campaign on August 5, 2020, insisting settlement of the demands. The employees and officers of BSNL are determined to defeat the nefarious game plan of the Modi government, to deny BSNL of its 4G technology.