Surtis cough up phone protection money’

More than the owner of the instrument, it is the linesmen who determine which telephone will work and when. And should the linesmen’s veiled demands for protection money’ not be appeased, well, be prepared to stare at a lifeless instrument.

That the above statement is only slightly exaggerated can be borne out by the fact that the list of telephone subscribers who have a grouse with the linemen is probably thicker than the telephone directory last published four years ago.

A Varachha subscriber, who claims to have been making peace with the linemen of his own volition, finally lost his cool when they asked for a pair of shirt and trousers instead of the usual remuneration. He says his phone simply stopped functioning for at least a dozen times in the course of two months.

Incidents such as this are reportedly responsible for the increasing public attacks on linemen. Telecom staff were assaulted a couple of days ago in Ved Road when they went to repair lines rendered inoperative by the recent flash floods.

The attack was perceived as a manifestation of the anger subscribers have been nursing against the department in general and linemen in particular. And though this incident made it to the police records because of its nature, several others have gone unreported.

Corrupt linemen have become so much of a fact of life that few eyebrows rise when someone is asked to part with a particular sum. “Why blame just the line staff. They can’t operate that way without the connivance of the junior engineers and assistant engineers”, says an office-bearer of an employees’ union. “Linemen are small fry and are used as fronts by senior officers”.

Incidentally, senior officers, too, side with the “small fry”, maintaining that “it takes two to tango. The linemen never ask for money; subscribers give it voluntarily”.

All-India Telecom Employees’ Union vice-president Maharaj Singh, too, defends the linemen. “They have to pay for the inefficiency of the department and the contractors it engages,” he says, referring to the recent attacks.

“Our field reports are never attended to. We are simply helpless when cable faults render telephones useless. Though they don’t ask for it, people part with money happily if the instruments come back to life,” he says, refusing to believe that linemen deliberately create problems to make money.

An office-bearer of an employees’ union, however, says they’ve suggested several measures — including keeping a watch on linemen and asking for daily reports — to combat charges of corruption. “But no one listens”, he adds.

When asked about the charges of rampant corruption, Assistant General Manager (Operations) K P Singh admits that they “haven’t been able to tackle the menace. Unlike other employees, they can’t be shifted to some other department. So they exploit their invulnerable position. It’s good that subscribers are teaching them a lesson”.

The linemen’s frequent work to rule’ threats are also deemed to be another reason why the department is hesitant to take action against them.