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A mystery

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) conducted an all-India competitive written examination for recruitment of about 3,000 junior telecom officers on February 22. The exam had objective type questions only and the candidates had to blacken the circle corresponding to the correct answer. The candidates were made to write their roll number and name in the answer sheet with pencil. Not only this, they were made to sign the answer sheet and the attendance sheet with pencil too. This is rather bizarre.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) also conducts examinations with objective type papers but there the roll number, name and signature are to be written with ball-point pen.

Further, for the BSNL exam there will be no interview; the written exam alone will decide the merit list.

All these conditions raise the needle of suspicion towards the officials conducting the exam: anyone can rub off any name, roll number and signature and change the answer sheet very easily.

The procedure adopted does not appear to be fair. Prima facie it seems there is a mala fide intention on the part of the authorities conducting the exam. This could be challenged in a court of law as the procedure adopted might lead to manipulation.

Suresh Rana,

Room No.5, House No.13,

II Floor, Ber Sarai,

New Delhi - 110 016.

Hello, Tatas....

We had a telephone connection provided by Tata Teleservices Limited with telephone number 55182477.

Despite several deficiencies in the promised services like internet speed, unnecessary and unmindful calls from their "call centre" and unsolicited SMS messages, we had been using this phone for more than a year.

We didn't receive the bill from Tata Teleservices for December 2005. Since January 4, 2006 we were told many times by their call centre that a duplicate bill would be sent or a payment collector would come and collect the amount. As late as January 13 night we were told that a duplicate bill was being sent.

But before giving us an opportunity to pay the bill which we received on January 16, they abruptly debarred us from making outgoing calls on January 14 morning. Despite our requests not to do so as we had still not got the bill, they went ahead with it, causing us a lot of frustration and harassment.

Because of this uncaring attitude and unsatisfactory service, we decided to discontinue the service altogether from January 14, the day they debarred us from making calls, and informed the person who called from their call centre. We also told them through a registered letter on January 23 to discontinue our subscription and settle our account.

Instead of responding to the letter, they continued to make disturbing calls threatening action against us. This is like adding insult to injury. We have always been willing to pay our dues after adjusting the advance we had paid. Even after our asking them to discontinue the service, they have kept on sending bills and adding these to our dues, but never bothering to give us a final bill to settle the account.

This is most unfair to an honest subscriber. Their irresponsible actions have caused me a great deal of mental torture. I look forward to a fair and reasonable settlement.

Dr. Jayashree Pillai,

27 Teachers' Flats,

Miranda House,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

Losing interest

After my retirement on August 1 last year in Bhopal, I settled down in Raipur, my hometown in Chhattisgarh. All my retirement benefit dues were deposited with my IDBI Bank account in Bhopal. To get money in Raipur, I requested IDBI Bank in Raipur to transfer my account from Bhopal but I was told to open another account in Raipur to which the money would be shifted from the Bhopal account.

Accordingly I opened a new account at IDBI Bank in Raipur and deposited a cheque dated 30-08-05 of the Bhopal account for Rs. 5 lakhs. The bank acted immediately and I was happy to have my money in my Raipur account the same day -- 30-08-05. My account numbers are 030104000083304 in Bhopal and 049104000183611 in Raipur. My customer ID No. is 1663630 for both accounts.

Later on, when I received my balance statement for the quarter ending September 30, 2005, I was shocked and surprised to note that the bank had not allowed interest on Rs. 5 lakhs for the month of August 2005. This despite the fact that the money was with the bank from 02-08-05 to 30-08-05 in my Bhopal account and from 30-08-05 to 17-09-05 in my Raipur account. Hence as per Reserve Bank of India guidelines for payment of interest on savings accounts, I am entitled to one month's interest on Rs. 5 lakhs.

I have written several letters to the Corporate Office of IDBI Bank but they have not accepted my request. According to them, the money was withdrawn from the Bhopal account on the 30th of August and hence on the 31st the balance was reduced by Rs. 5 lakhs. Whereas I wanted them to consider my request for interest because the money was not physically withdrawn from the bank. It was lying all along with the same IDBI Bank and was only transferred from one account to another account of the same customer having the same customer ID for both accounts.

I hope they see reason and I get my dues from the bank now.

J. L. Rathod,

House No. MD-4, Sector 2,

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar,

P.O. R.S.U Raipur -- 492 010.

(Chhattisgarh).

Foretold

On the 22nd of March, a severe cyclone battered Australia's Queensland State, with 290 km per hour winds pounding the region. A number of houses were destroyed and thousands of people were rendered homeless. The damage is estimated to run into millions of dollars. Bizarre as it might sound, this unfortunate tragedy was predicted as much as 50 days before the event in Volume 270 of "Baba Ji" astrological magazine, released in Delhi on the 31st of January, in the following forecast:

"Australia -- Nature's Fury Feared -- Planetary configurations reveal that within about one month from the 28th of February, 2006, nature will become highly unkind and cause much agony. It will use each element at its command to distress the people. Scorching heat....fires, explosions, fierce winds, storms, floods, cyclones, diseases, epidemics, pollution, etc, etc, will cause much agony."

Hard to believe, isn't it, but not quite really considering you are dealing with planetary configurations!

Lachhman Das Madan,

Editor, "Baba Ji" astrological magazine, J-7/28,

Rajouri Garden,

New Delhi - 110 027.

A heinous crime

The bomb blasts at Varanasi's Sanket Mochan Temple and at Varanasi Cantt. railway station by terrorists deserve to be condemned in the harshest possible terms. This heinous crime of killing innocent persons and targeting a place of worship is a highly despicable act totally against Islam, its teachings and traditions.

The perpetrators of these horrendous crimes are enemies of Islam.

Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai,

C-501, Rose Woods Apartments,

Mayur Vihar,

New Delhi-110 091.

(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer and should be marked "Reader's Mail".)

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