Odisha govt’s pending phone payments run into crores – Imperial Wire

The Odisha authorities has did not clear its excellent phone payments regardless of the Ministry of Communications sending a number of reminder letters, together with three in current months by Union Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia.

As of the tip of 2025, varied State authorities departments collectively owed ₹28.54 crore in unpaid phone dues to public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Restricted (BSNL), which is already beneath monetary stress.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Mr. Scindia mentioned, “BSNL performs a significant position in offering telecom companies throughout the nation, particularly in rural and distant areas. It helps key authorities departments, together with the armed forces, and serves quite a few banks and establishments.”

“With its huge community and powerful presence, BSNL stays a dependable and trusted service supplier for delivering citizen-centric companies. Given BSNL’s monetary stress, the Authorities of India has permitted revival packages in 2019, 2022 and 2023 to help its viability and competitiveness,” he identified.

“Regardless of this, the corporate wants regular money flows for routine operations and modernization of its telecom infrastructure. As on December 31, 2025, ₹28.54 crores stays excellent from departments and organizations beneath the State of Odisha,” talked about the Union Minister.

Stating that Telecommunication Secretary had already requested early clearance of those dues and contemplating BSNL’s crucial position in offering safe and dependable telecommunications, Mr. Scindia mentioned, well timed cost of those dues is important to maintain its operations and repair high quality.

He requested Mr. Majhi to concern vital directions to the involved departments and organizations to expedite the settlement of all excellent dues to BSNL on the earliest.

The Division of Info and Public Relations has the best unpaid dues at ₹8.59 crore, adopted by the Regulation Division with excellent payments of ₹4.42 crore. Different departments with arrears exceeding ₹1 crore embrace Schooling, Finance, Well being and Household Welfare, House, and Rural Growth.

Following Mr. Scindia’s reminder in November, a number of departments diminished their pending dues, with the Finance and Info and Public Relations departments paying a sizeable portion of their payments. Nevertheless, excellent phone dues proceed to be a trigger for concern. As of Could 2025, Odisha’s complete unpaid phone payments stood at round ₹80 crore.