I took a landline connection bearing number 2426885 along with a broadband service at my apartment in 5E Tranquil Towers, Kakkanad, Ernakulam.
The broadband service never functioned after the first month and this was brought to the notice of various officials by phone, email, fax etc. In the meantime, BSNL recovered the cost of the modem as well as monthly broad band charges of Rs 500 every month. Although I was paying these bills for more than an year, about 6 months back, I stopped paying the bills because there was no reason for me to pay for a service which was not provided to me.
Last month, based on a news item which appeared in a local newspaper, I sent a complaing to the Adalat. My demand was that the broadband should be disconnected and the money paid by me towards the modem and monthly broadband charges should be adjusted towards the future rentals of my landline. A week later, a lady called me from Kakkanad telephone exchange and informed me that their accounts dept was doing the needful and that my phone would be reconnected within a week.
As nothing happened for 20 days, yesterday I tried to reach a responsible official of BSNL over phone. Very cleverly, BSNL has not provided any contact details in their websites. Finally, I managed to get across to a senior BSNL official (I think it is one Mr Pillai) thru a number I got from the mapsofindia website. He wanted to know the name of the lady from Kakkanad exchange who spoke to me. When I told him that I did not know her name, he disconnected the phone. Although I tried his number repeatedly and it was ringing, he kept disconnecting the line. If he was employed by a private telecom company, he may have already lost his job. It is no wonder that BSNL employees are fighting privatisation tooth and nail. It is obvious that if privatisation happens, they will all lose their jobs.
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