DoT sets up check-points for illegal calls

NEW DELHI: Following the directives issued by the Minister of Communications & IT Dayanidhi Maran, the Department of Telecom has set up Vigilance Telecom Monitoring Cells at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad to vigorously detect the illegal long distance call. These cells, besides continuously monitoring the operators to check the grey market calls will also ensure that the license conditions are fully complied with.

To facilitate the general public to give information about the grey calls, toll free numbers- 1600-110-420 or 011-2373-1100 have been setup. Grey call is the one, which the receiver of the call sees with his Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP) facility only a local or national number while the call is originated from outside India. In that case, any one can note down the number as it appeared on the CLIP and immediately report the same on the above toll free numbers.

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It may be recalled that due to the Department of Telecom's (DOT) intensified surveillance activities so far 33 cases of illegal exchanges have been detected and busted successfully in the various parts of the country, this year. While DoT is taking necessary action to detect the grey market operation, it is also seeking cooperation of general public to make this drive against the unscrupulous elements successful, by volunteering themselves to report such types of incidents immediately, if they happen to come across.

Though the calls made through such illegal means were of poor speech quality, even then these calls bring heavy loss of revenue to the government and service providers. Since the identification of caller is not available, such calls can be used by economic offenders, drug traffickers etc.

The Department of Telecom is also separately making arrangements in various countries to generate decoy calls for identification of such cases. Necessary instructions have also been issued to all the service providers to alert the general public about this phenomenon.