Outstanding bills worth more than Rs 1 crore haunt BSNL in Andaman

Port Blair, Nov 8 (UNI) BSNL has decided to discontinue service to some of the government departments in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, due to non-payment of outstanding bills amounting to about Rs 1.2 crore.

''I am going to disconnect departmental telephone lines with outstanding bills,'' Chief General Manager of BSNL Atanu Ghosh today told UNI.

The CGM said that even after repeated intimations, many departments have failed to pay the bills on time, causing a heavy loss to the telecom firm.

According to a rough estimate, an amount of more than Rs 9,07,000 is alloted to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Andaman Circle, every year by the administration, for its own system failure.

This amount is paid to BSNL in form of a surcharge since the telephone bill is paid only after the due date every month.

''This is a big problem and it is also the same with general public,'' Mr Ghosh added.

Recently, BSNL, Port Blair, has taken a series of steps to ensure speedy payment of telephone bill through an improved delivery system.

''However, not much has been done by the government to improve the situation,'' BSNL officials claimed.

The UT administration has more than 1,590 telephone connections, including about 100 mobile and WLL connections as per the Official Telephone Directory of the A&N Administration.

UNI