There are about 4,000 and odd casual labour working in the BSNL since its formation 12 years back. Most of them are in W.Bengal. They have actually been working since the days of DOT and might have worked 15 years or more by this time. There are some who have been in continuous work for more than 20 years. These labours have contributed their entire efforts for making DOT/BSNL in all its progress and installing and maintaining the services.

They were eligible for absorption as regular employees and thousands of such casual labour have already been regularised till 2005. The left out casual labour are also fully eligible for regularisation. Had their names been forwarded in time to the corporate office, they would have been regularised like others.

The plea of the management that it is not possible to regularise them after the Supreme Court judgement in Umadevi vs. Karnataka State don’t hold any water. Many government departments and PSUs have regularised their casual labour even after the judgement and utilising the way suggested by the judgement.

It is the unsympathetic and inhuman mindset of the BSNL management which is the main reason for the non-regularisation. BSNLEU and BSNLCCWF have suggested many methods by which these workers can be regularised. It is a life and death question of the workers and their families to get a job after toiling for the DOT/BSNL for maximum part of their lives.

The BSNL Management should stop their crocodile tears and come to the rescue of these most exploited workers and regularise them giving them a better future.