MTNL seeks ₹500 cr from telecom dept

NEWDELHI: Unable to pay salaries to its employees for a third consecutive month in January, staterun MTNL has raised pending dues of ₹500 crore from the Department of Telecom (DOT) for the period 2000-13.

The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) seeks reimbursement of pension and GPF totalling ₹488 crore paid to employees absorbed from DOT in MTNL and also for rendering telephone services to DOT employees.

The DOT had leased the lands and buildings of MTNL during this period for which the public sector undertaking wants ₹12 crore in rentals.

An amount of ₹200 crore from this is meant to settle the wage bill of MTNL employees for January, DOT sources said.

A senior DOT official said the department was examining the MTNL invoices and would release some cash towards the salary payment. The rest would be given after due scrutiny of MTNL documents in support of their claim of ₹500 crore.

MTNL has an employee strength of around 23,000. Its stock price closed at ₹12.20 a piece on Monday, just about 1% higher than the previous close.