At least 54,000 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) employees across the country are likely to lose their jobs. According to reports, the board of the company accepted a proposal to lay off approximately 54,000 employees.

However, the final call regarding this is likely to be taken only after the Lok Sabha elections. The BSNL board also approved recommendations on the reduction of retirement age from the present 60 years to 58 years, Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for all employees aged 50 and above and expediting the allocation of 4G spectrum to BSNL.

"Announcing the VRS package or job cuts and shutting down businesses of the telecom firm would have huge implications on employees and ongoing elections. Department of Telecommunications decided to wait and watch," sources said.

Notably, BSNL and MTNL were unable to pay salaries to their employees for the month of February and recently approached the government for financial support.