MTNL Strike affects consumers in Delhi
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Over 8,000 employees of the state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) were on strike for the second consecutive day Tuesday, affecting consumers of telephone and internet services in Delhi. No word if the mobile connections were affected.
The workers’ union of MTNL went on strike Monday, demanding pay revision according to the recommendation of the sixth pay commission.
“We were supposed to receive salaries according to the sixth pay commission. However, only the bigwigs in the management are blessed with it,” A.K. Kaushik, general secretary of the Telecom Executives Association of MTNL, told
While about 4,000 executives are demanding 30 percent fitment in the new pay scales approved by the government recently, the management has agreed a fitment benefit of only 5 percent. “Even our HRA (house rent allowance) is being given to us according to December 2006 recommendation,” Kaushik said.
Whats the worst part is that these angry workers cut cables to disrupt services according to the management , but Union denied it .
With such chaotic incidents happening in the country ! Will India ever get a full fledged 3G Network ?
Earlier, MTNL chairman and managing director R.S.P. Sinha had said the striking workers cut cables in seven places. “Cables were cut at seven places in the city. The Laxmi Nagar cable, six NTR cables carrying STD traffic and two optical fibre cables carrying DTH and broadband traffic have been cut,” Sinha said. Landline phones went dead in many parts of the city and internet services were down, severely affecting operations at many places, including the Indira Gandhi International Airport. “We have filed an FIR although we can’t identify the vandals,” Sinha said, adding that the damage will be rectified soon
If you are a MTNL user who was affected .. share your thoughts . should the vandals be prosecuted ?
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My mobile phone, landline at work and internet have not been working since Sunday. It was extremely annoying since I had lots of work to be done due to a deadline and having access to these services was critical to my completing all work. I am extremely annoyed but feel that the demand of the workers is completely justified. The sixth pay commission recommendations have been implemented in most central government offices since last September and logically pay should have come to MTNL employees also. Thats like saying more than eight months have passed and MTNL wasn’t able to pursue the case due to lack of funds or other reasons. If I had been in such a position probably I would have lost patience as well in this time frame. They waited so long shows their patience and inactivity of the management. Infact, the management order tried to deny them benefits and feel the employees aren’t really wrong. The magnitude of damage is bad though.