AP Telecom bosses draw flak from advisory panel members

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JUNE 9. The top brass of Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle attracted heavy flak from Telecom Advisory Committee (TAC) members on a wide range of issues, including the Dussera scheme for concessional telephones, at a stormy meeting here on Friday.

Boycotts and protests marked the meeting with the Telugu Desam MP, Mr. Rumandla Ramachandrayya, leading from the front. He launched a frontal attack on the AP Telecom authorities by accusing them of colluding with contractors in permitting sub- standard work in laying optic fibre cables (OFCs).

At the very outset, the MP took serious objection to the officials' failure to invite the media for coverage. He trooped out of the meeting hall with at least 20 of the 80-strong TAC. Dismayed officials hurriedly called media offices while the Chief General Manager, Mr. J. Ramanujam, and other senior officials persuaded Mr. Ramachandrayya to return.

It is understood that TAC members were upset over a report published in a daily quoting unidentified sources that they were more concerned about their allowances than articulating consumers' grievances and hence insisted upon the media's presence.

The media was the cause for another furore. As a heated discussion was in progress, Mr. Ramanajum went aside to give interviews to a clutch of TV cameramen. As TAC members threatened to stage another boycott, the meeting was broken up for lunch.

Yet another grievance was the alleged casual replies given by the senior telecom officials to their queries. Members complained that issues they had raised at the first TAC meeting had remained unaddressed till the fourth meeting today. Mr. Oggu Narasaiah of Karimnagar protested against officials giving replies in English to queries in Telugu.

However, their main complaint was that the AP Telecom Circle had failed to fulfil its promise of providing telephones on demand by 2000 A. D. Some BJP members, particularly, Mr. Y. Krishna, BJP's ex-corporator, also pitched in with their criticism about corruption in laying OFCs.

Mr. Ramanujam promised that the entire waiting list for six lakh new connections would be cleared by March 2001 and attributed the delay due to non-receipt of Centrally-procured equipment and cables. He said the AP Telecom would become the first circle in India to achieve a zero waiting list.

He based his optimism on the fact that the demand for new connections would be less in the coming period as the DoT had mopped up applications by collecting a nominal registration charge of only Rs. 1,000. Moreover, the large-scale installation of wireless in local loop (WLL) would facilitate giving new connections up to a radius of 25 km from the exchange against 5 km now without increasing the cost.

The CGM also dismissed complaints about the OFCs, saying that AP had the largest such network in the country. The entire State would be covered by by 2002 A. D. thus improving the functioning of rural exchanges and eliminating scope for congestion of lines.

TFC members also grilled officials about the heavy telephone dues and wanted to know how many connections were provided free of cost. They were informed that the total outstandings stood at whopping Rs. 125.83 crores in the following break-up: State Government Rs. 6.16 crores, Centre Rs. 0.13 crores, defence Rs. 0.09 crores and private subscribers Rs. 119.45 crores.

The CGM said cellular telephone services would be introduced in select places, including Hyderabad, by DoT during 2000-01 in the first phase. He also disclosed that the Hyderabad telephone directory would be supplied by October.

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Section  : Southern States
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