MUMBAI, April 19: Over 50,000 telephone subscribers have given a call for a `Virar bandh' on April 23. While it is unusual for telephone subscribers to call a bandh, they insist that the circumstances that have led them to take this extreme step are themselves extraordinary.Several telephones in this satellite town, they complain, have been out of order for a long time. Complaints are not being attended by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Residents have reason to feel cheated as the complaints lodged by STD/PCO booths in the town are attended to promptly. The Suburban Telephone Consumers Association had made several representations to the DoT, but in vain.At a recent meeting of the association, chaired by MLA Hitendra Thakur, it was decided to take a morcha to the telephone exchange to protest the `step-motherly' treatment given to telephone subscribers. Interestingly, this is the first time in the history of the DoT that a bandh is being organised to protest its poor service.Subscribershave complained that although Subscriber Trunk Dialling connections in residences have been cancelled for the last one month, public utility STD/ISD centres are functioning smoothly. Thakur alleged that while DoT officials have been giving private subscribers' complaints the go by, they go all out to ensure that commercial STD, ISD & PCOs function smoothly. This is done for a premium, he claimed.Said P Mascharenhas of the Suburban Telephone Consumers' Association, ``Many telephones in Virar are either dead or not functioning properly, while some have developed cable faults. This is not being attended to by the exchange staff.'' He added: ``Many simple faults like failure to get the dial tone, which can be rectified at the exchange itself, are not being attended to." All establishments, except utility services and schools, will participate in the bandh.When contacted, DoT officials said they were not aware of any agitation or morcha. A senior official, requesting anonymity, said the DoT was busy with adirect-link project with Mumbai's MTNL, which had affected a few telephone lines. ``Allegations about almost all private connections being dead are false and baseless. We have records to prove it.'' the official asserted, adding that it would take a while before things got back to normal.
