Wednesday, January 27, 2010

SNEA writes Letter to Hon"ble P.M. regarding BSNL Issue

SNEA writes Letter to Hon"ble P.M. regarding BSNL Issue




SNEA(I)/Hon’ble PM/2/1-2010 Dated 25th January 2010 To Respected Sh.Manmohan Singh Ji, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India NEW DELHI.
Sub: Inevitable and imminent need to induct high grade qualitative professional talent at the top level in BSNL – existing bureaucratic and outdated selection mechanism of PESB requiring drastic transformation and revamping.
Respected Mr Prime Minister,
It is with great elation and excitement that we learnt about your appointment of a Committee chaired by Sri. Sam Pitroda to look into the maladies that afflict the working of BSNL and revitalize this crucial Public Sector Undertaking before it slumps beyond a point of no return. While we welcome this timely step at the highest level of the Government igniting hopes that the battle to save this great PSU will continue in earnest, we would like to bring to your kind attention a few vital points that require your careful examination and prompt action.
It is but a fact that BSNL being a PSU has to undergo all the hassles that normally plague such PSUs and delays the decision making process, which is of vital importance to the PSU facing the worst kind of competition with so many competitors, unfettered and unshackled, strangulating it with political patronage. Naturally such long processes and political interferences are not conducive to the fast changing market dynamics and the lightning paced technology changes. The result is that the PSU is never able to meet the demands of the market always handicapped by the scarcity of vital equipments and materials at the ripe time. Your good self, we are sure, is not unaware that this can be achieved only if the PSU is empowered with financial freedom to take prompt decisions to go in for state-of-the art technology of sufficient capacity, so that the great demands of the market can be effectively and promptly met.
The 2007-tender fiasco, presided over and meticulously crafted by the present MOC&IT, which literally ensured that the wings of this strategic PSU, which till then was vying for the top spot in the market along with Airtel, despite being a very late entrant in the GSM segment, were clipped off and it was totally thrown off its feet. Its deliberately delayed entrance into strategic and highly potential mobile market in 2002 was again a politically motivated decision to lend huge strategic business edge to other private operators in terms of allowing them to capture huge strategic market at peak time. The result is that today the once contender for the number one spot in just 2006 lies at an awfully low sixth, with a mere 12% market share. Unwarranted and fatal Governmental interference in 2007 by heavily sizing down procurement of GSM equipment without ant plausible reason cost it very heavily, and when the market grew at an unprecedented alarming pace from 2006 till date, the PSU could not even creep or crawl for want of sufficient capacity. Until just 3 or 4 months ago the Company bled while the competitors were allowed to drink of this blood and grow fat at its expense and the objective of vested interests and manipulators was achieved. Harrowing and disastrous result is there for everyone to see.
While the Government can never be pardoned for fatal, politically motivated and unwarranted interference in year 2007 , which can never be compensated by any other corrective action for obvious reasons, we cannot ignore the fact that the top Management of the Company also has to be squarely blamed for its lackadaisical subservience to the lords. While it was their bounden duty to act in the interests of the Company, which they had to command and steer, they simply fell flat on their feet to prostrate before the lords in the government being more loyal to the king than the kingdom and the people. That is where we feel that this Company cannot survive under such servile Management, which, we are sure, cannot rise above the interests of the lords. Their totally unprofessional, uncommitted, devoid of vision, innovativeness and pragmatism, conservative, non competitive and unplanned approach, clubbed with complete lack of astute governance skills and robust leadership ingredients, has landed this prestigious Company into the worst dump from which it is almost impossible to rise up again.
During their command the last 10 years have witnessed the worst slump not only in market share but also in the revenue and profit fronts. It is so scary that even though the Company could keep itself above the red margin so far, thanks to the interest from the reserves, the ongoing year portends to be the first loss making year. It does not take great minds to conclude that the slump has been created not only by Governmental procedures and interference but by the lack-luster performance of those entrusted with the challenging and crucial job of driving this gigantic PSU into excellence. Incredible manner in which Companies like France Telecom, NTT and China mobile with governmental holdings have remarkably retained their position, some of them having even achieved global rankings, as leading service providers in their Country in a fiercely competitive environment is being largely attributed to high grade professional leadership capable of running complex telecom enterprises. Surely not the kind of leadership that we have been having on the board - born, brought up and groomed in a highly protective and non competitive market, conservative and monopolist environment, where qualitative service delivery, excellent customer interface, accountability and timely deliverance of results were nightmare.
Thus the issue fundamentally boils down to induction of the rarest of rare talent in the board, definitely not through the orthodox and primitive mechanism that PESB has in place at the moment. The criterion cannot be just ITS seniority, based on redundant performance mechanism (CRs) – bereft of objectivity, having no relevance in present complex scenario and assessed by ITS fraternity in a monopolistic and non competitive world. These surely cannot be the parameters to decide top slots to run a gigantic Company virtually in shambles today, plagued by anarchy, rampant and virtually all round corruption, indecisiveness, total lack of accountability, growing indiscipline, worst possible work culture, menacingly growing vendor- manager nexus, and what not. Assertiveness and ruthlessness of the top leadership in holding people accountable for their persistent failures and non deliverance would have had miraculous impact down the level. But alas – parochial fraternal ITS considerations have kept and keep top management from meaning tough business and deliverance of results in a time bound manner. That thinking and vision is altogether amiss. Otherwise, how is it that despite unabated debacles on all the business fronts, not a single head out of 1400 top heads has been rolled down. That would have automatically led to percolation of rolling down of heads, fixing of responsibility and accountability, qualitative service delivery down to the lowest rung in the Organization, and would eventually have had a miraculous impact on performance.
It is in this context precisely that we are constrained to infringe upon your valuable time, as head of DOP&AR overseeing the mechanism and crucial process of selection of Directors/CMDs of strategic PSUs considered to be the nerve centers of Country’s economic activity, to kindly direct the concerned officers to have a pragmatic and urgent look at the existing outdated mechanism of selection, revamping and replacing it by adoption of a thoroughly innovative and professional approach to fill top slots of a Company where government holds 100% equity and whose sole objective is to fulfill the social obligations of the government in terms of achieving its envisaged agenda of providing universal telecom services of highest quality at affordable prices. So what we need is a Management with a thorough professional breeding, approach and vision. This has to look beyond the available domains of ITS cadres into the best Management professionals of the country, the best leaders and talents available in the vast professional spectrum rather than looking through the narrow prism of the ITS fraternity which hitherto has miserably failed to deliver on all fronts. Ten years of continuous governance has adequately demonstrated their complete inability and incapacity to push through the Organization in a climate diametrically opposite to the one in which they have got groomed. They have utterly failed to prove their managerial mettle and business acumen.
To embark upon such an exercise PESB needs to rope in and look up to the IITs/Premier Management institutions and leading business schools to choose the best talent capable of leading this mammoth PSU not only from the front but with formidable and unwavering conviction and confidence, without shivering before the dictates of the political bosses. Such talents are available in abundance provided PESB succeeds in putting in place a mechanism to sift the rarest of rare talents needed to steer this Company out of the huge and incredible mess that it is in now. The best available talent will not only deliver goods with undivided focus on the fortunes of the Company but will be booming with rare confidence breeding from the strength that they shall not be out of job even if political masters throw them out. We do have in abundance real and extraordinary professional talent in the Country ready to take up this challenging opportunity because for this rarest of rare talent challenges are opportunities and great challenges are great opportunities. PESB has a real challenge to sift the best talent for such tough and challenging positions.
Therefore it is our earnest plea to kindly consider the above aspects, because apart from financial autonomy, the hands that take it up should be capable to deliver irrespective of the pleasure or displeasure of the feudal and political lords and the strong vested interests. That alone, we believe, can save this already sinking ship from damnation and doom. As far as we in the middle management are concerned, even though we are not involved in key decision making process, yet we have no hesitation in also acknowledging our complete failure in responding to the challenging situation. However, having no other option, unlike top 1500 managers who are fully insured and secured in terms of their job, despite their consistent non performance and failures, spanning over ten years, we have no other option but to give in our best in adversity and grave crisis under an enlightened management to radically improve productivity and service delivery. The government would do well to engage us, draw up a comprehensive road map, and begin by restructuring the top leadership by inducting the best available and truly independent talent at the helm. All right thinking people belonging to the Organization concerned about their bread and butter and the future of this great beloved Company would like toughest of tough leadership at the top to immediately take over the reins of the Company facing the real prospect of being consigned to flames.
With kind regards,
Sincerely Yours,
(G.L.Jogi) Copy to:
1. Sh. A.Raja, MOC&IT, for kind information & n/a please.
2. Sh. Prithviraj Chavan, MOS, Personnel & AR. He is requested to direct the concerned officers of PESB to undertake serious and immediate efforts to introduce innovative mechanism to decide CMD/board directors for BSNL
3-4.Sh. Sam Pitroda/ Sh Deepak Parekh. They are requested to give due consideration to the aforesaid hard ground realities prevailing in BSNL regarding selection of top managerial posts while taking a final view on future structure of BSNL.
5. Sh. P.J.Thomas, Secy/DOT. He is kindly requested to keep in mind the extremely disappointing and pathetic performance of a few directors elevated to BSNL, Board of late through existing mechanism of PESB selection.
6. Sh. Shantanu Consul, Secy(personnel), for kind information & immediate n/a please.
7. Sh. R.C.Mishra, Secy(Pension and AR & PG), for kind information & immediate n/a please.
8. MS Vijaylaksmi K Gupta, M(F)/TC, for kind information please.
9-10.Sh. Pratyush Sinha, CVC/ Sh Ashwani Kumar, Director, CBI. Both the agencies are requested to keep BSNL under intense and constant surveillance throughout the Country since rampant corruption and mounting vendor nexus has started eating into the vitals of the Organization. Corruption in the field units of BSNL is assuming alarming proportions.
11. Sh. Chewang Phunsog, Chairman, PESB, for kind information & n/a please.
12-14.Sh. V.S.Jain/ Sh.A.K.Singh/Sh Sudhakar Rao, Members, PESB, for kind information & n/a please.
15-21. Directors, BSNL board, for kind information please.
22. Sh. Sat Paul, CVO/BSNL. Vigilance of BSNL needs to be geared up in full swing to arrest fast spreading malaise of corruption.
23. Sh. Bhaskar Charterjee, Secy/DPE. DPE should not restrict the number of applicants for selecting directors of BSNL, board on technical grounds. Instead, all out and concerted efforts should be made to enlarge the ambit of consideration as much as possible to enable PESB to have varied choice to pick up the best possible talent for such challenging positions.

1 comment:

Avinash Murkute Galaxy4u said...

I congratulate SNEA for accepting that BSNL had become Bribe Sanchar Nigam Limited. I appreciate the initiative of SNEA. Let me share with you - I have reported 26 bribe transactions done by Area Manager Rural Nagpur BSNL, he also allowed illegal telephone calls from Hingna exchange, illegal telephones were allowed by him, their was massive corruption in cable laying and he was also involved in BSNL free directory sales.

Earlier CMD Prithi Pal Singh protected him and present CMD Kuldeep Goyal has zero tolerance to corruption complaint.

I appeal to present CMD to stop salary of corrupt officers named in Multicolor Digital Corruption as per TRAI's directive and prove to the nation that he is not above law, courts and TRAI.

Will he?