BSNL officials answer queries at the meet. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 17: Mohan Agrawal of Kadma received a notice from BSNL to clear his dues of Rs 12,000 against his landline number, which he had not paid for four years. Hailing from the lower income strata, he was not able to clear the amount.

But a BSNL open session held today at exchange office, Bistupur, solved his problem by permitting him to pay the dues in three instalments and to get a fresh connection. Grievances of 28 other BSNL consumers like Agrawal were redressed on the spot today.

R.K. Mishra, the BSNL general manager, Jamshedpur, and M.M. Mishra, the president of the District Consumer Redressal Forum, were present at the session to deal with the complaints.

Manoj Singh, a resident of Bagbera, questioned the officials about the delay in getting new connections. “I had applied for a landline connection on March 3. The official concerned had assured me of getting the connection in a week. But almost a fortnight has passed and I am yet to get the connection,” said Singh.

Immediate help was found through the BSNL general manager, who assured him that he would get the connection by tomorrow.

Rohan Mitra, a BSNL subscriber from Sonari, who wanted to transfer the service connection in the name of his brother, was told that both parties would have to sign on a form for the name transfer.

“Earlier, it was a lengthy process which involved getting an affidavit from the court to change the name. Now, both the parties merely have to sign in front of a BSNL officer,” said Mishra.

“Officials from several departments like accounts, connection and billing are here to listen to the problems and dispose of the pending work,” he said today, adding that handling problems get delayed due to the lengthy departmental proceedings.

Of 28 cases disposed today, 23 cases pertained to billing, while two were for new connections. Two of the cases were related to mobile services and one to broadband services. To have their problems addressed, consumers had to fill up a form, which comprised several columns under nature of the problem, duration of the problem, address and nature of service the consumer was using.

During the session, many consumers complained that BSNL does not send monthly bills regularly. To this, Mishra said that it was the responsibility of subscribers to know the details of their bills by dialling a toll-free number, 1500.

Some consumers complained against BSNL officials’ negligent attitude towards consumers. Dealing with grievances on this issue, R.P. Ojha, the welfare officer from BSNL, said subscribers must use the toll free number. “Every call is recorded at the toll free number and the complaints are immediately registered by the telephone operators, which are forwarded to the departments concerned. However, even after several calls, if the problem persists, consumers must meet senior officials with a written complaint,” said Ojha.

Mishra added the department would organise similar sessions in Chakradharpur and Seraikela on March 19 and 28, respectively.