Bhubaneswar: Union communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has urged chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi to direct state departments and agencies for early clearance of BSNL’s outstanding dues, which have ballooned to Rs 28.54 crore till Dec 31, 2025.In his recent letter, Scindia said BSNL remains crucial to the country’s telecom backbone, particularly in rural and remote regions, while also supporting key govt users such as the armed forces, banks and other institutions. He noted that BSNL’s extensive network and reach make it a dependable platform for citizen-centric service delivery.
Flagging the company’s financial stress, Scindia pointed out that the Centre approved revival packages in 2019, 2022 and 2023 to improve BSNL’s viability and competitiveness. However, he said the PSU still requires steady cash flows to manage routine operations and to modernise its telecom infrastructure. He reiterated that as of Dec 31 last year, Rs 28.54 crore was outstanding from state govt departments and organisations.Scindia added that the department of telecommunications (DoT) secretary Neeraj Mittal earlier sought early clearance of the dues. Stressing BSNL’s role in providing secure and reliable communications, he said timely payments are necessary to sustain operations and maintain service quality, and that state support is important for BSNL to continue contributing to regional and national development.“I would, therefore, request you to kindly issue necessary instructions to the concerned departments and organisations to expedite the settlement of all outstanding dues to BSNL at the earliest. Your timely intervention in this matter will greatly contribute to BSNL’s financial stability and its continued ability to serve the people with robust and essential telecom services,” Scindia wrote to Majhi.Additional chief secretary Hemant Sharma, who holds charge of home, industries, and information and public relations departments, said he would go through the letter and take steps to repay BSNL’s pending dues.Scindia wrote similar letters to Majhi on Nov 25 and Sept 1 last year.
