Telecom operators in JK again under scanner

The Ministry got into action as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was surprised over the speed in which re-verification of nearly 1.6 lakh customers was done in only 24 days which included two gazetted holidays and a eight-day long strike in the Kashmir valley.

The Home Ministry wanted to know about the mechanism adopted by the telecom operators in re-verifying the pre-paid mobile customers after the Centre allowed resumption of services on January 22 after a months-long ban.

The Centre had imposed the ban on pre-paid mobile phone services on November last and Chidambaram had then said if the service providers come up with a fool-proof plan of 100 per cent verification and the ministry was satisfied with it,then the issue may be revisited.

The Home Ministry has now sought to know how many special camps had been organised by the telecom operators during the last three weeks and what all documents had been taken from the customers for re-verifying the connections.

The Home Minister had expressed his surprise at a meeting yesterday after the security agencies informed him that nearly 1.6 lakh customers had been re-verified.