GUWAHATI, Jan 17 � Expressing concern over the worsening BSNL cell phone services, public activist Prof Deven Dutta today said that the Central Government was intentionally allowing the BSNL services to deteriorate for paving the way for privatisation of the State-owned enterprise.
�The UPA-II started the process of handing over the BSNL to private corporate groups and the present BJP-led NDA will complete the process. BSNL services are at its nadir, and this has been done intentionally for privatisation of the PSU,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that it was impossible for the BSNL consumers in the State to have their grievances against pathetic services redressed as consumers never get proper response against their queries.
�Apparently, everything here is controlled by Kolkata. Aggrieved consumers rarely get any satisfactory response from the BSNL offices here. Even having a cell phone recharged is a big problem as the process is clumsy and the server remains �down� most of the time,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that he himself had been making a number of queries with the BSNL officials in Guwahati, but �they simply keep passing on the buck from one to the other. And to make matters worse, they keep hiking charges without any notice.�
�I have not got any service on my cell phone for four days as my outgoing calls have been barred without any reason. And I have not got any explanation from the BSNL authorities for this lapse on their part,� he said.
Prof Dutta said that the decks had already been cleared for BSNL�s privatisation and that the arbitrary charges were effected with the objective of reducing the burden of deficits stemming from the 2G scam before the PSU is handed over to a private party.
Prof Dutta said that as a BSNL consumer he rarely received bills, but invariably receives �warning� on his cell phone asking him to pay the bill or else to face disconnection of service.
�BSNL has no right to issue warning unless bills are delivered on time. There has been a total breakdown of BSNL services in every sphere,� he added.
