The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated the migration of official mobile connections used by nearly 4,200 employees at the Lucknow Secretariat from Vodafone Idea to Bharat Sanchar Nigam. The move has triggered concerns among staff over the potential disruption of official communication channels.
The transition affects employees across multiple departments and designations, including computer assistants, review officers, section officials and senior administrative personnel. As part of the process, BSNL has begun distributing new Closed User Group (CUG) SIM cards through the Secretariat’s Telephone Cell following the government’s decision to move its official telecom services to the state-owned operator.
While the administration has started implementing the migration plan, employees have raised concerns about being assigned new mobile numbers rather than retaining their existing ones. Many of the current CUG numbers have been in use for several years and are integrated into official records, departmental contact lists, emergency communication networks and administrative databases across the state government.
According to reports, a delegation of Secretariat employees recently met senior state officials to highlight the practical difficulties that could arise from changing long-established contact numbers. Employees argued that replacing existing numbers may create communication gaps and administrative challenges, particularly during the transition period.
A key demand from staff is the adoption of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which would allow employees to retain their existing numbers while switching to the BSNL network. They contend that such a move would ensure continuity in official communication, reduce disruption and eliminate the need to update contact information across multiple government systems and documents.
To facilitate the migration, all departments have been instructed to nominate coordinating officers responsible for collecting employee information, including names, designations and corporate eHRMS codes. The details will be used to process and distribute the new BSNL SIM cards.
The large-scale telecom transition reflects the state’s efforts to consolidate official communication services under BSNL. However, as the rollout progresses, employee concerns over number retention and communication continuity are expected to remain a key issue in the implementation process.
