The decision not to have any more negotiations and which was conveyed to the association of these officials (ITSA) by the Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran during a meeting, virtually seals the fate of the technocrats who are now certain to be shifted to a surplus cell of the government.
The winding up of the negotiations may hamper telecom services adversely as ITSA has already obtained an order to stop the government from appointing retired telecom officers in their place in the two PSUs as part of a contingency plan.
"The fact that only 16 out of 2,200 serving ITS officers have opted for BSNL/MTNL vindicates our stand that offered terms and conditions by DoT are degrading compared to the existing terms and conditions," S S Sirohi, president, ITSA, told PTI.
Sirohi also blamed a section of the bureaucracy in DoT for mishandling the absorption process, which has created an impasse.
ITSA asked Maran to set up a high level committee comprising independent members and ITSA nominees to address the issue and work out a win-win solution to all the stakeholders -- officials, DoT, BSNL and MTNL.
The minister, however, expressed his inability to revisit ITSA's demands now as the deadline set by the Cabinet had expired on October 10, thereby closing the absorption process.
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