It is reported in the press that the delay being caused in the Rs. 20,000 crore NOFN Project, being entrusted to BSNL, Railtel and Powergrid  has made the government to rethink of handing over the work to the private companies. The target of fulfilling the task of providing 2.5 lakh villages with broadband service was projected to be completed by December 2016, which now has been preponed to March 2016 by the PMO.

There seems to be a big conspiracy in the government move. Government wants all the paraphernalia in tender process to be fulfilled by the PSUs and the same time wants it to be speeded up. The private telecom companies had already protested in entrusting the project to BSNL etc. Now, on the plea of the alleged delay they want to get the project for themselves. And the Modi Government, which got huge election funds from the corporates, is willing to play its role.

The Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations strongly protest this anti-PSU move of the government and demand that the proposal to hand over NOFN project to private companies be dropped and also allow the three PSUs to continue their work with out undue hindrance as was being done. In fact, the PSUs should be assisted in their efforts to finalise the project at the earliest.