Guwahati: The sudden shutdown of Aircel services in Assam has led to uncertainty and despondency among the distributors who had invested lakhs of rupees in the company.

Aircel shut down its services on February 21, without prior intimation, leading to problems to customers who are unable to migrate to other service providers owing to lack of the required porting authorisation code.

Pallav Jyoti Gogoi, a distributor from Duliajan town, said, "The company shut down its services without any prior notice around 2pm on February 21. We were told that the services would be resumed but nothing has happened till now. Customers are hounding us to provide services or return the money they had paid for voice or data packs. We approached the business head of Aircel, Assam circle, Dibyajyoti Khound, but he was unable to provide any assurance to us." According to the distributors, the company has filed for bankruptcy before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which has accepted the proposal.

The NCLT is a quasi-judicial body that adjudicates issues related to companies. Nearly 300 Aircel distributors across the state had paid amounts ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 4,00,000 as security deposit. Moreover, each distributor has stocks valued at anything between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 15 lakh.

According to company norms, each distributor is required to keep enough stocks to provide services for one week to customers serviced in the area for which the distributor had applied.

The company had reportedly been accepting payments till February 20. The distributors were required to pay in advance for voucher coupons and e-vouchers for voice and data packs. Those who paid on February 20 did not receive any vouchers, the distributors alleged.

Mayur Kankani, another distributor from Dergaon, said, "We had taken loans to run our business. We utilised the loans to pay the security deposit and keep stocks. Now we are in danger of losing all our money. The company has filed for bankruptcy before the NCLT. It had taken Rs 15,500 crore loan from banks. We don't know what to do."