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Vivek Banzal's almost a royal itinerary for a visit to Prayagraj involving nearly 50 officials with every little detail pencilled in was called off after it went viral on social media.
Vivek Banzal – a name that would have gone unnoticed on any other day – has recently hogged the limelight. Reason? The ‘tasks’ he needed some 20 officials to undertake for his recent visit to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, which reportedly was to arrange for ‘snan kits’ that included items like hair oil and undergarments, drawing widespread criticism over the appropriateness of such expenditures and the use of public-sector officials for personal errands. Now that all of our attention has come down to this name, here's a brief profile of Vivek Banzal:
Who is Vivek Banzal?
Vivek Banzal is a Consumer Fixed Access (CFA) Director at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Board. According to the BSNL website, Vivek Banzal is an Indian Telecommunication Service Officer of 1987 batch.
He has a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics, Master of Engineering in Computer Science, and MBA. He has more than 34 years of experience handling Telecom Network in India.
“His quest for innovation and process re-engineering began in the fixed line segment. Over the years, he has successfully implemented wire-line broadband services and customer-centric innovations in the Mobile Network segment,” the website said.
According to the telecom major, Vivek Banzal has been “promoting and managing” Bharat Fiber (BSNL's FTTH services), BSNL IT framework, and other services since 2016.
Under achievements, BSNL sayd Vivek Banzal revived BSNL’s Fixed line services and set new benchmarks with a pan-India FTTH growth model, “enabled 1 lakh users in 40,000+ villages with 12.3 crore GB usage in a month.”
What's the Prayagraj visit controversy?
Vivek Banzal's almost a royal itinerary for a visit to Prayagraj involving nearly 50 officials with every little detail pencilled in was called off after it went viral on social media. Also Read | ‘Absurd and shocking’: Jyotiraditya Scindia condemns BSNL Director's ‘royal itinerary’ for Prayagraj trip
According to an office order, the Prayagraj visit was scheduled from February 25-26 and around 20 tasks were assigned to nearly 50 officials.
What were the tasks?
Bathing in Sangam after his arrival in the city on Wednesday, February 25. This follows a boat ride and visits to Bade Hanuman Mandir, Akshayavat and Patalpuri temples. There were supposed to be some ‘snan kits’ – six for men that included towel, underwear, mirror, comb, soap, shampoo, oil and two for women.
The officials were needed to arrange one bed sheet for general use at the ghat.
At the hotel and Circuit House, dry fruit bowl, fruit bowl, saving kit (shaving kit), towel, toothpaste, brush, soap, shampoo, comb and oil were to be arranged, the order said.
What did BSNL say?
BSNL India in a post on X on February 21, said, “BSNL has standing instructions in place regarding the manner in which official visits are to be handled. An instance of non-adherence to the same has been taken note of. The instance noted is not in conformity with the professional standards and values of BSNL. Appropriate action has been taken against the concerned.”
"Further, instructions have been issued reiterating strict adherence to extant instructions. BSNL employees are reminded to strictly adhere to prescribed conduct rules and instructions in this regard," the post said.
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