PUNE: A circular issued by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) directing
subscribers to pay rental of two months in advance besides call charges for the
regular billing cycle, has come under flak from subscribers in Pune.
But what has apparently not gone down well with the subscribers, is BSNL's
move to charge subscribers with five months rentals, whose bills are due in June
2001,while shifting to the new system of advance rental. In monetary terms, the
rental alone would amount to Rs 1,250 with additional local call charges for the
last two months.
The Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, a consumer rights association in Pune
has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the affected subscribers. The Pune units
of the Panchayat has exhorted telephone subscribers all over the city to
voluntarily shut their phones for a day in protest against the rental in advance
system recently announced by BSNL.
The system of charging phone rental in advance was in practice till 1999. The
system was discontinued because the rental was charged according to two
different slabs depending on whether the calls made were more or less than 400
in number. Panchayat's city unit general secretary Thaksen Pore said that they
had urged all telephone subscribers to remove their connections and desist from
paying the custody charges in a move to convey the displeasure of the public at
large to the BSNL.
Subscribers have been asked to participate in the `Bolti Band' campaign. The
Panchayat has already handed over a memorandum to BSNL Principal General Manager
Nirmal Saroop Pune. City Congress President Mohan Joshi had earlier warned of an
agitation by his party in case the BSNL moved ahead with the implementation of
the order.