With major parts of the city being inundated after the heavy downpour last week, telephone lines are in a shambles, alleged members of the Telephone Services Society.
More than 20,000 landlines of Calcutta Telephones went out of order after the rain. Secretary T S Srinivasan said more than 3000 phone lines in Russa Road exchange, 6000 lines in Jadavpur, 1200 lines in Ballygunge and 1600 lines in Kasba went out of order.
But, not a single line was repaired in the last four days, he alleged. "Calcutta Telephones authorities should immediately start the repairing job. We also urge service providers to give subscribers a rental rebate if lines are out of order," said Srinivasan, but added that is hardly ever done. Instead, the dockets are erased within three days, so that subscribers cannot claim rebate.
A Calcutta Telephones official denied the charges that no attempt was being taken to repair the lines. He admitted that during the monsoon, many telephones go out of order. But, he added that the maintenance unit was working on a war-footing.
TSS also alleged that new BSNL landline connections are taking 15 days to one month to be installed. "Even BSNL's broadband connections are being given months after people apply for them. The existing subscribers are suffering too with connection errors," Srinivasan said.
