Action against telecom bill defaulters

Therefore a thoroughbred strategy is needed to recover outstanding dues. And no one should be spared from that drive -- be it VIPs, MPs, government offices or private users. So long as the authority fails to make a dent in respect of big and mighty defaulters like the MPs, no 'tough measure' by the ministry concerned to realise arrear bills will have the required moral and administrative force to succeed. We recommend that the authority approach the malady from different standpoints. First, the fake users of telephone connections as well as bill defaulters must be identified and punished. Secondly the billing system has to be overhauled. There are a lot of loopholes which put the customers in a sticky situation: the bills are not sent on time, there have been plenty of cases of 'ghost-billing' or 'overbilling' and the procedure for reinstating a disconnected line is consumer-unfriendly. Last but not least, co-ordination between the bank receiving bill payment and the telecom authority is sorely missing. The records are not posted in good time at the BTTB end. Though the banks take the payments, the telecom authority gets to know about it much later often resulting in disconnection.

Innocent and law abiding consumers should not get punished while VIPs who should be example-setters in a positive sense get away with big defaults. Rather than taking ad-hoc measures, the authorities would do well to adopt a holistic approach to the dual problem of billing and collection.

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