New Delhi, Oct. 24: Around 1,300 Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officers today reported for duty at the department of telecommunications (DoT) after they were repatriated to their parent cadre from public sector telecom companies ? BSNL and MTNL.

The officials, who were earlier employed with BSNL and MTNL on deputation, had presented a memorandum to DoT secretary J.S. Sarma, charging the department with breach of trust and adopting “coercive measures”.

“The October 18 order had asked those withdrawn from BSNL and MTNL to report to the DoT today. They completed the formality,” ITS association president S.S. Sirohi said.

The ITS officers, who reported for work at DoT, have termed the package as “poor”.

The association demanded immediate filling up of all posts at various levels in DoT by eligible ITS officers and sending back those on deputation in DoT to their parent organisations.

The association has also demanded that the government constitute a high-powered committee to bring about an amicable solution on terms and conditions, which are mutually agreeable for easy absorption of officers in the two public sector telecom companies.

The officers had earlier rejected the package approved by the cabinet, stating that core issues relating to career progression, upgradation, criteria for board-level post selection and interference by the DoT in public sector units remained unresolved.

After corporatisation of the DoT services and operations, around 4,00,000 employees were transferred on deemed deputation to BSNL and MTNL for a period of up to five years.

The period of deemed deputation was originally scheduled to end on September 30, which was later extended by two weeks to October 15. About 3,97,000 employees had already been absorbed in BSNL and MTNL.

Late last month, the Union cabinet had approved a package for the absorption of 3,000 Group A officers of ITS into BSNL and MTNL, which includes a 25 per cent rise in emoluments retrospectively.

The department of telecom had created a new “surplus cell” within the department to accommodate the ITS officers, who did not opt for the absorption package in BSNL and MTNL.