The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : BSNL gives cold shoulder to its subscribers

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Monday, Mar 17, 2008
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BSNL gives cold shoulder to its subscribers

Staff Reporter

They are without connections for the last six months

Tenders are placed to rectify the problem, says official
Many have switched over to other private operators like Reliance and Tata-Indicom

BERHAMPUR: Although sounds unbelievable yet there are BSNL landline subscribers in the city who are without connections for the last six months for no fault of their own.

It’s an irony that the BSNL authorities are not in rush to rectify the problem although due to it they might be losing a large chunk of landline connections.

With the BSNL landline phones dead for six months, most of the families in the area have opted for wireless landline services of private operators like the Reliance and Tata-Indicom.

Many have also decided to substitute their landlines with mobile phones.

The landline subscribers of Ambapua, Bimanagar, Saradhabali, Gayatri Nagar, Sana Kusasthali were suffering with the problem.

Recently some customers of Gayatri Nagar met the General Manager of Berhampur Telecom District, who assured them that the tender were placed to rectify the problem and work for it would start soon, said Prakash Panigrahy, an aggrieved customer residing in Gaytri Nagar.

Reason

The landline connections of these areas were disconnected on August 12 when digging work was taken up to widen the NH 217 that passes through the area.

The underground BSNL cables, which were allegedly not buried deep in ground were snapped during highway widening work.

It was alleged that miscreants stole away large portions of cables as the BSNL authorities did not provide security to keep watch on them while the road works were on.

The long bureaucratic process related to tender and contracts to relay the cables has delayed the repair work till date. Now the BSNL authorities plan to bury the cables at least five feet deep in the area.

But the Accounts Department of the local BSNL office seems to be ignorant of these technical faults.

It is sending regular bills to the landline customers of the area regarding rental of their landline phones although they were not operational.

The officials of the technical section say, the customers would not have to pay any bill for the period when they did not get any service.

But bills are landing before the landline customers of the area due to lack of coordination between two sections of the BSNL.

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