*Diversion of apparatus to Valley too plays spoilsport
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 11: Notwithstanding the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is a sensitive State, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has left lakhs of subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in lurch by not paying any serious attention towards the up-gradation of services, which otherwise have been deteriorating with every passing day.
The complexity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that stores of the BSNL remain empty despite huge requirement of equipment and the officers of the J&K circle have been left with no other option but to watch the situation as mute spectators.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that ever since the devastating floods ravaged Jammu and Kashmir in the month of September last year, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has not paid any serious attention towards improvement in the services of BSNL, which suffered extensive damage due to the natural calamity, and disruptive services have been compelling the subscribers of the BSNL to shift to other cellular operators.
Under Phase-7 of the expansion and up-gradation project, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited had received huge equipment for the State but everything was diverted to Kashmir valley in order to bring BSNL’s services back on track following devastating floods of September 2014. “Since then equipment for Jammu region are awaited but Information and Broadcasting Ministry has not taken the requirement seriously till date”, sources regretted.
Disclosing that under this phase around 80 more towers of cellular service are to be installed in different parts of Jammu region including the border areas for improvement/expansion, sources said, “due to inordinate delay in making required quantity of equipment and other paraphernalia available, the implementation of Phase-7 has got delayed”, adding “the complexity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that all the stores of the BSNL are virtually lying empty and despite receiving numerous complaints about continuous deterioration in the services, those at the helm of affairs in J&K circle are left with no other option but to watch the situation with crossed-fingers”.
They informed that BSNL requires at least 400 kilometers of overhead cable and 700 kilometers of Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) for improvement in its services but in the absence of funds and necessary support from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry the requirement could not be met till date and subscribers of BSNL in this sensitive border State have virtually been left in lurch.
“Moreover, for towers of cellular service, the BSNL requires huge number of batteries as backup on snapping of direct power supply but only half of the total requirement has been met with till date”, sources said while disclosing that batteries of huge number of towers have outlived their life and during the snapping of direct power supply they fail to provide back-up resulting into disruptions in cellular services.
Sources disclosed that unless serious attention is paid towards the requirement of BSNL J&K Circle the prevailing situation would not improve and huge number of its subscribers would be left with no other option but to shift to other subscribers. “In such a situation, the financial health of BSNL J&K Circle would further deteriorate”, they said while informing that during past financial year the revenue realization of BSNL in J&K nose-dived considerably because of floods and many other factors including administrative inefficiency.
It is pertinent to mention here that during 2014-15 financial year, BSNL J&K Circle recorded expenditure to the tune of Rs 470 crore as against revenue realization of Rs 438 crore. “If BSNL fails to improve its services, it would be very difficult for it to meet the target of revenue realization of Rs 545 crore fixed for the current financial year”, sources said.
When contacted, a senior officer of the BSNL, on the condition of anonymity, said, “we have projected our requirement to the concerned quarters and hopefully we will receive the necessary equipment under Phase-7 very shortly”, adding “even a team from the BSNL Headquarters is visiting State shortly to assess our requirement for improvement in services in all the parts of the State”.
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