By Syed Abadi HamdaniBSNL, the Indian government based telecom, is busy in loot and plundering covertly. The telecom where, nobody was seen and their employees used to be idle busy in their offices, longed to see a person, to submit a form for SIM, because of its very poor connectivity. On the outcome of this turmoil that suddenly changed their luck, they never expected such an overwhelming response as before the turmiol only the government’s high level white collared persons were possessing BSNL connections.
With this unprecedented increase of the customers, their attitude, tone, behavior has also changed adding to their craze. The customers who now are seen in long ques, from early in the morning to submit their forms complaint of snagging. Many people were told that they only give Sims to government employees, after seeing their identification proof that constitute of department ID, driving license and election card, but no Adhar card is accepted, as many customers possess Adhar cards and are devoid of election cards.
The situation in this office has run amok that has lead to commotion, as I visited there I saw flood of people from all sides, holding forms in their hands, desperately searching for their known persons if any and others to get access to back door entry. Many customers who were leaving with gloomy faces, said our forms were not accepted because we are not government employees, they said you would get the Sims from Jammu. By chance, I met a customer who said, I am not a government employee, I got the SIM, they give Sims also to non government employees, who pay double the amount for the same SIM and that too is possible on if if they have any acquaintance here. Another youth who I met, said that I got my SIM activated in just 12 hours by paying 1300 rupees to a person whose name he did not disclose. Many said the BSNL telecom officers said we can’t accept your forms because we are short of Sims.
The customers who already possessed the BSNL postpaid Sims, that they had kept in dusty closets, or were barred because of non payment of bills, were first asked to clear their dues with no relaxation in the amounts, were restored only when they cleared their last dues. People had no option left but do the same.
The government rate for the postpaid SIM is 500 rupees. The BSNL postpaid Sims are selling like hot cakes, many complained they accept forms on Saturday and handover the Sims on Monday. The puritanical enforcers while snapping the mobile services due to security reasons in the Valley and only BSNL services were allowed to work, many people were of the opinion that it was because the BSNL telecom was running in loss, the others were of the view that most of the government officials used BSNL and they need BSNL to continue their communication with other officials.
Mayhem in the BSNL department overnight by rush of customers has benefited the government in crores. The employees treat themselves as nibs, and behave rudely with the customers.
The people are buying the bsnl Sims of the fear, not by willingness or love, even knowing its poor connectivity, might the services would be snapped again if situation becomes worst in future, saying something is better than nothing.