WE THE PEOPLE
Faulty Internet service, non-delivery of bills and defective Helpline continue to remain quite annoying
Hence people demand corrective measures to bring derailed services back on rails in Kashmir
By: Ahlam Masoodi
SRINAGAR: It is worth remembering that information revolution did not begin in our century. It was the ninetieth century that saw the advent of the telegraph, the telephone and the development of automobiles. The major positive contribution of the communication revolution is that it has brought people together and fostered a feeling of a global village. But the telecommunication system in Jammu and Kashmir in general and Kashmir Valley in particular has become a riddle and brought people face to face with umpteen difficulties. The Internet service of BSNL plays a truant and brings the users face to face with severe hardships. The Helpline provided by the Organization is for namesake and whenever people seek assistance, they get totally disappointed and dejected. The billing procedure is totally faulty and the subscribers do not receive bills on time and whenever received are generally inflated and far from the actual ones.
It is to be kept in mind that most of the developmental activities are intimately connected with effective communication system in the world of today. This is substantiated by the success story of many advanced countries, which have set-up bases in outer space and are exploring possibilities to establish safe zones to ensure safety and security to their people. They have even identified areas, which are having rich mineral wealth, but India has to travel a lot to tread into such areas. It has not yet made advances in Tele-technology despite having captured several world markets in software and hardware. But the story Kashmir Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is all the more pathetic and its poor performance has set-up shock waves across the length and breadth of the valley of Kashmir. Its faulty Internet and GPRS services have caused loss to Kashmir business of a very high order and Media community stands affected quite adversely. Besides frequent breakdowns in landlines, non-delivery of Tele-bills followed by dis-connections, erratic Helpline and apathetic attitude of its field-staff have become its hallmarks. It is all the more disgusting to notice that its Commercial Section get tele-connections of the subscribers disconnected for remittance of over-delayed bills.
It is further alleged that the corrupt practices in the Organization are galore, which got substantiated when a CBI team in the recent past took up investigation into the fudging of monthly telephone Bills, which had resulted in a huge financial loss to the BSNL. It was pertaining to tampering of the computer billing system, which had indicated that some officials were in league with some PCO owners. The billing and the receipt of payment had shown vast variation, which had forced the authorities to order a CBI probe. Preliminary investigations had revealed that a big fraud had been detected. It is learnt that the CBI sleuths had kept nearly 30 to 40 PCO owners under scan and their bills were being verified. It had been established that some BSNL officials had managed to reduce phone bills by 90 to 120 per cent. In one case the bill amount was Rs.10, 000/- and as a result of the nexus between the BSNL officials and the PCO owners, only Rs1000 had been deposited in the Telephone Department. The CBI team had been asked to identify those BSNL officials and PCO owners, who had managed to fudge the password, which is used in issuing the bills and in the receipt of payments. Scores of cases of bill fudging had been identified and it was apprehended that the fudging may not be limited to Srinagar city, but to other towns of the Valley too.
Our landlines go out of service and the problem gets compounded when mobiles also stop functioning. Getting inflated bills of our telephone connections and that too belatedly has become the routine feature of BSNL in Kashmir. On questioning the veracity of the amounts charged by the BSNL, there is no plausible explanation from the concerned. The officials of the Commercial Section behave like lords and bother least for the subscribers. Moreover, such officials are in a fortified building, where civilians lack access. The Helpline provided by the Organization never resolves issues of the subscribers as it hardly responds to their calls. The manual line seldom responds and the case of computerized line is all the more annoying. It is generally no-functional,” said a group of people waiting for their bills outside the main counter of the BSNL at Exchange Road.
Hence people demand corrective measures to bring the derailed services back on rails in Kashmir. They urge top brass of the Company to turn responsive to the genuine demands of the subscribers and mitigate their sufferings without any further delay.
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