Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Sept 22: Even though the landlines have been restored across the Valley, tension on the communication front persists as the residents are finding it hard to get a landline connection.
Being the only source of communication the telephone exchanges across Valley received an unprecedented footfall after snapping of entire communication including phone connectivity and internet on August 5. This proved to be a blessing in disguise for the ailing State owned telephone service Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited as people across the Valley throng the exchanges to either get a new landline connection or reactivate the old ones.
However, this sudden increase in the workload caught the company on wrong foot and leads to delay in the restoration process. The locals lamented that they have to wait for weeks to get their landline fixed. “I applied for the restoration of my landline connection for last 20 days but without any success. I have been forced to run from one exchange to another. They do not even treat a person humanly,” Ghulam Mohammad, a resident of Pampore said, adding that the organization is cheating the customers by promising a speedy restoration of the communication.
The company’s inability to live up to the expectation of the people has lead to dissatisfaction among the people. The scuffles between the officials and the customers are common in telephone exchanges these days. In one such incident, an irate customer created a ruckus inside the Soura Telephone Exchange after failing to get his line restored despite repeated attempts. The exchange has been shut even since the incident took place.
Another customer from the Soura area complained that he has been visiting the telephone exchange concerned for the last 15 days without any success. “Last month they wooed me with the promise of a speedy restoration of my landline. After I deposited the pending bill of my landline they became insensitive towards me,” an elderly woman said, adding that the company is trying to gobble money from the people.
BSNL’s inability to tackle the problem has to do with the emergence of the cell phone revolution. The State has more cell phones than the people living here, has fewer landlines. The company is finding it difficult to address this huge customer base.
By December 2018, Jammu and Kashmir had mobile penetration of more than 10237929 GSM cell phones. For every 100 people, TRAI statistics suggest, there are 109.19 phones. There are 13.84 million phone subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir which means it has crossed the number of people living in the State, according to TRAI that has numbers to suggest that Jammu and Kashmir hold 1.14 percent share in India’s total subscriber base. With huge reliance on the cell phones the restoration of landlines is unable to make a difference.
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