75,000 BSNL employees have opted for VRS so far, says CMD

The chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), P.K. Purwar, has stated that around 75,000 employees have already opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) rolled out recently.

Around 100,000 BSNL employees are eligible for the VRS out of its total staff strength of about 150,000. The scheme will remain open till December 3, 2019.

BSNL has pegged its internal target for VRS at 77,000 employees, and the effective date of voluntary retirement under the present scheme is January 31, 2020.

The state-run operator is looking at savings of about Rs 70 billion in wage bill, if 70,000-80,000 employees opt for the scheme.