(a) whether the Government is aware of any incident of disconnecting the telephones by the BSNL despite the fact that the bills of S.S.A., Kota were already paid and no payment was outstanding;
(b) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) the number of telephones disconnected in Kota and Bundi Telecom districts of Rajasthan during the last six month despite timely payment of bills; and
(d) the details of the steps being taken by the Government to streamline the system in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) Yes, Sir. There were some incidences of telephones having been disconnected despite payment of bills. However, such incidences were rare, mainly due to non-receipt of payment particular/receipt of wrong information from post Offices, Banks or other departmental counters thus showing the bills as outstanding in TR Billing system.
(b) As soon as case of wrong disconnection comes to notice restoration is made immediately. In this regard, Government has been instructing BSNL from time to time to streamline the system of billing and collection.
(c) Since such incidences happen rarely and the telephones are reconnected immediately, therefore details not maintained on a regular basis.
(d) The following steps have been taken to streamline the system:
(i) CCMS package integrated to TR Billing system is under installation by which all the departmental collection centers will be on-line.
(ii) Off-line payment collection machines have been installed to transfer the payment particulars on daily basis to TR Billing computer system to avoid any manual transaction.
(iii) Post Offices have been instructed to send the payment particulars on daily basis and steps have been taken to update TR Billing system on daily basis immediately on receipt of collection details.
(iv) Now disconnection is made only after feeding of all collection details well in time and after reconciliation of monthly payment schedule to ensure correct disconnection.