Indian Railways, BSNL To Terminate Chinese Contracts And Use Of Made-In-China Products

State run transport and telecom giants Indian Railways and BSNL are all set to terminate Chinese contracts and the use of Made-In-China products.

As per a report in the Indian Express, the Indian Railways is gearing up to terminate the contract of China Railway Signal and Communication (CRSC) Corp which was tasked to install the signalling system on 400 km of railway lines in the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

The contract worth Rs 500 crore was awarded in 2016 but since then the authorities have been dissatisfied with the work of the Chinese firm. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Limited (DFCCL) has applied to the World Bank (the main project financier) to initiate the process.

State-run telecom giants BSNL and MTNL on the other hand have been instructed by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to stop using equipment supplied by Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei.

The Telecom department is also expected to cancel a 4G equipment tender floated by BSNL and MTNL. The tender will then be reworked and re-floated to disqualify Chinese vendors.

A government official was also quoted as saying that private telecom operators may also be barred in the future from using Chinese equipment.