Under the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has approved applications of some 28,423 employees and payment process is underway.
Sources in the PTCL said on Friday that around 33,000 PTCL technical and non-technical employees had applied under the said scheme for volunteer retirement but 28,423 applications were approved.
The cost of VSS is Rs 35 billion, which will be equally shared by the government with the PTCL, they said and added that a strict eligibility standard had been adopted for this scheme under which maximum age of applicant should be 58 years.
Officials said that this scheme was aimed to relieve the PTCL of expenses it was bearing under the heads of salaries and other perks of mainly non-technical staff. However, the company will retain the required staff, they added.