PCOs continue to overcharge for local calls

VADODARA, Nov 1: Despite a series of raids on STD-PCO operators by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) which began about a month ag...

VADODARA, Nov 1: Despite a series of raids on STD-PCO operators by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) which began about a month ago following pressures by some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), a good number of operators continue to over-charge for local calls.

Though the DoT claims to have raided 200-odd operators in various parts of Vadodara including Alkapuri, Karelibaug, Ellora Park, Nagarwada and city areas, and temporarily cancelled licenses in more than half of the cases, investigations by Express Newsline revealed that operators continue to charge Rs 2 per call.

Our team made local calls from at least half-a-dozen booths in different parts of Vadodara, and were charged Rs 2 every time. Operators defended themselves by saying that the DoT had fixed an irrational rate i.e Rs 1.26 for a local call and claimed that callers did not mind paying Rs 2. “How can one pay Rs 1.26?” queried an operator, Satish, in Alkapuri. “People don’t ask for the remaining 50 paisa,” he added.

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And this is what is upsetting the NGOs, whose agitation was primarily based on this demand (local call rate). “Our campaign against the DoT began on this issue. But when we find the operators still charging more we are aggrieved,” lamented Sailesh Shah of Social and Cultural Group of Vadodara, one of the NGOs which is involved in the campaign.

He refused to comment on the argument of DoT officials that fixing a rational local call rate (i.e either Rs 1 or 1.50) was a policy decision which could be taken by the Chief General Managers office at Ahmedabad. “They have to find a solution as lakhs of rupees go as extra money for the calls in Vadodara,” Shah said.

What has agitated the organisations is that the DoT has done little on the memorandum which was submitted by the organisation which, besides other things, proposed issuance of tokens for local calls on the lines of those issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS).

“They are not even willing to discuss this proposal. Until the time a policy decision is taken on rationalising call charges, the tokens would have ensured that excess money does not go to the operators for local calls,” another NGO member said.