Civic authorities not responding positiviely : BSNL GM

Kakinada, Nov 29 (UNI) BSNL General Manager G Raghavendrarao today claimed that the exhorbitant charges levied by the Municipal Corporation of Kakinada was coming in the way of the BSNL's plan to provide telephone facility to the poor living in Rajiv Gruha Kalpa houses at Rs 60 rent per month.

He told UNI that the civic body had hiked the fee charged for permitting laying of telephone underground cables to Rs 25 lakh for a kilometre, which is almost four times more than the last year.

''For a Rajiv Gruha Kalpa complex, consisting of 200 units, the amount charged at the rate of Rs 60 each comes to Rs 12,000. But when compared to the expenditure involved, it is not a viable proposition for us. For that we have to lay underground cable to a minimum distance of 500 metres, paying exhorbitant charges. Besides digging and installation will cost another Rs 150 on each connection. Hence, the BSNL is in a fix over fulfilling of its social obligation'', he said.

He said the civic authorities did not respond positively to the requests for rolling back the charges to the previous level.

He urged the people's representatives to view things in a social angle and prevail upon the civic authorities to bring down the fee at least to a reasonable level.

UNI XC AKM 1834