The failure of public service institutions to cater to the needs of the general public has more often than not created pandemonium particularly in the form of students protest. The planned agitation from October 19 to be spearheaded by the North East Students Organization (NESO) is expected to cover the length and breadth of the northeast region and comes at a time when public grievance against the telecom giant BSNL continue to pour in. All this goes to show that there is something amiss in the way the BSNL has been functioning in places like Nagaland.
Looking specifically at the NESO’s charter of demands it goes to show the utter discrimination on the part of BSNL with regard to the services available which is being denied to customers in the northeast and not to forget the poor service that has dented the image of the largest telecom player in the country. The BSNL it would seem has the sole intention of taking advantage of the market situation in Nagaland where it has established itself as the monopoly player.
It is a matter of truth that unlike in other parts of the country where private competition exists, in a place like Nagaland BSNL can allow itself to be indifferent to consumers’ needs, not pay attention to customer satisfaction and still hope to survive. And over the years, while telecom service in terms of quantity has definitely made a marked improvement in the State, in terms of quality service, there is gross inefficiency on the part of BSNL.
The advent of the Chennai based Air Cell may after all be good for the public as it will not only give more choice but would also wake up the sleeping BSNL giant. To take on the competition, BSNL recently announced (widely reported) more subscription. So unless there is competition Naga customers may continue to be tormented by service providers such as BSNL.
It would be worth mentioning that those who are agitating have every right to demand from the BSNL accountability, transparency, quality and choice of services provided. One wonders whether the BSNL has formulated its Citizens Charter so that the rights of citizens are properly translated into action. Services exist for the people and not people for the services. It is high time that the public question the BSNL and the latest protest move should be welcomed and people should demand that they will not put up with inadequate and unsatisfactory services.
There is also the need to create awareness on the redressal machinery under the consumer protection statute so that customers can seek compensation from public service providers for their act of commission or omission. Functionaries of BSNL should be made to realize that they cannot any longer continue to take people for granted.
It would also be in public interest if BSNL make free copies available of the Citizens Charter published by the Department of Telecom. NESO would also do well to ask BSNL to follow the Citizen Charter for Telecom Services which had been issued by the Department of Telecom Services and Department of Telecom Operations to the operators. Whether BSNL is adhering to the same is anybody’s guess.
