Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was asked from telecom vendors to make BSNL pay Rs 3000 cr dues 

The Telecom vendors' association TEMA has sought after the Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's intervening in getting Rs 3,000 crore dues from BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) even after the state-run telecommunications company has been reminded a several times by the suppliers and the manufacturers. 

In a letter to the Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) said in a statement: "There is the issue of release of funds from USOF (UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION FUND) to BSNL for the works already done by BSNL vendors. DoT has not infused any equity in the last many years, whereas the other operators have invested in tens of thousands of crores in the network roll-out.

"In the present scenario where there are no funds with the BSNL for O&M, the payments are being delayed by raising inter-departmental issues where the vendors have no role to play and are waiting for the due payments as per tender terms and conditions. We request for your urgent intervention in the matter please ensure the immediate release of pending payments from BSNL to manufacturers and vendors latest by 15th October 2019."

The letter had cited the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's recent direction plan asking the government departments to clear the various dues of the suppliers and service providers, latest by October 15, in order to provide liquidity.

"The major intention is to ensure that no Government Department is sitting on their dues for the goods and services received by it from the vendors, MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) as an association representing the telecom equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and MSMEs, we would like to bring to your kind notice that our members had time & again raised the issue of not receiving the payments from BSNL for the various projects and supplies related with LWE (Left Wing Extremist Area), Bharatnet, USOF, and many other projects, which are in the tune of about Rs 3,000 crores and are pending for the past several months."