Cadre wars break in telecom department

New Delhi, Nov 9: A cadre war s brewing at the Communications Ministry which was recently split into two departments the Department of Te...

New Delhi, Nov 9: A cadre war s brewing at the Communications Ministry which was recently split into two departments the Department of Telecommunications DoT and the Department of Telecommunications Services DTS. DoT has been entrusted with the task of framing policies as well as interfacing with other countries for tariff settlement and international bodies while the DTS has been entrusted with the task of setting up telecom networks across the country.

The point of contention which has led to bickering between various segments of the ministry pertains to the administrative functions with regard to the public sector units under the departments. While the gazette notification dated October 22, regarding the reporting arrangements of PSUs 8212; MTNL Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, VSNL Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, ITI Indian Telephone Industries and HTL Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd and TCIL Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd was supposed to be looked after by the DTS.

However, through anoffice memorandum dated November 4, two PSUs 8212; ITI and HTL were 8220;hijacked8221; by DoT, which has frayed tempers in Indian Telecom Service ITS cadre.

8220;How can a gazette notification, which is notified though the President of India, can be challenged by a mere Sanchar Bhawan communication?8221; question ITS officers. 8220;This is a bid by Telecom Secretary Anil Kumar to retain some power with him that ITI and HTL have been kept under DoT,8221; adds the officer.

It may be recalled that the IAS lobby had to eat humble pie last month when the Government had to reverse its earlier order posting a senior IAS official V Vaish, replacing him by P S Saran, a senior ITS officer.The rivalry between the IAS lobby and the ITS lobby is legendary in telecom circles. The Telecom Secretary8217;s position was a position held by the ITS till a few years ago. However, during the 90s, the post has defected to the IAS officers, much to the dislike of the ITS cadre.

Now that the ITS has wrested the position of the secretary DTS, afterthe split of the ministry, there has been a bid by the IAS lobby to retain ITI and HTL as an effort to tip the power balances in their favour. Says a senior ITS official, 8220; Basically keeping PSUs under their wing is being done only to derive some power as these PSUs take care of officials when they visit their cities and also for some clout.8221;

The ITS plans to demand that the secretary DTS8217;s position should be permanently with the ITS currently it is an ad hoc arrangement which may be open to reversion to the IAS at a later date.

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They have also raised the issue that the DTS should not be privatised in a hurry but rather given some time to establish itself and strike roots in its new avtar before it is completely corporatised.