Public money and time does not matter at BSNL
In a recent interview with Hi Time Express (published March 10, 2007), Dr. Shakeel Ahmad (Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology) had criticized the media for singling out BSNL and writing adverse stories on it. Dr. Ahmad even said that he had asked BSNL officials to concentrate on this issue and handle the media more carefully. He also pointed out that media was ignoring the fact that telecom operators were giving lifelong offers when their license was valid for not more than 8 years.
Agreed that media may not have been critical of private operators to the extent that it writes against BSNL but what can the media persons do when they get story after story against BSNL, that too without much effort.
Hi Time Express presents one such issue out of the countless that can be brought to print. The issue relates to a man named Ram Kumar Awasthi, who is the residence of Nauranga Ghatampur near Kanpur. An exchange was already operational at Nauranga but when the need arose to build a tower at Nauranga, Ram Kumar Awasthi, whose residence is about 200 metres from the exchange, was contacted. An agreement was finalized between him and the BSNL officials, based on which a tower was constructed at Awasthi's house about one year back by Nokia, the executing agency working on behalf of BSNL. In fact, Nokia too sublet this to another company RN Infra Communications, who hired a contractor Shamshul to erect the tower on Awasthi’s property.
The tower had been standing for about one year but for reasons best known to the BSNL officials they decided not to shift the exchange there in spite of Awasthi agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions originally decided with BSNL. Awasthi lays the blame on some BSNL officials who demanded money from him and upon his refusal to pay them refused to shift the tower to the new site. The entire plan was stranded even though the tower continues to stand on Awasthi’s property, for which he has received no payment till the last information received to us.
When contacted, T.N. Shukla, GM-BSNL at Kanpur says that BSNL has done no agreement with Awasthi and its exchange is already operational since years. He says: "If somebody erects a tower somewhere, what can we do? We have not given the order. Why should we be bothered if we are not to pay?"
Mr. Shukla is right that BSNL has neither given permission nor done any expense on the construction of tower. That is why BSNL has not released the payment for construction of the tower to Nokia, who have stopped the payment to RN Infra Communications, who have further not paid to Shamshul. If Shamshul has not paid to the labourers employed to construct the tower, we do not know. Neither has any payment been made to Awasthi in whose house the tower stands.
Contrary to what Mr. Shukla says, Prabhat Sinha, Project Manager at Nokia says that construction could not have been initiated without BSNL’s permission: "We are doing project for BSNL. Acquisition is done by BSNL and rent is also paid by them. They give us the location and only then we make the tower for them."
Likewise, Vijayan Pandey of RN Infra says that the tower was constructed after an agreement was reached between BSNL and Awasthi, about 200 metres away from the exchange. He says that they would not have commenced worked on the site if there had been no agreement. Moreover, why would have Awasthi allowed the construction of tower on his land without an agreement?
There is no doubt that an entire tower could not have come up if BSNL had not given the go-ahead to the execution agencies. But why did the BSNL officials back out still remains a mystery.
Mr. Sinha further says: "Terms must have been written in the agreement. Unless agreement is not made, tower would not have come up." And says: "We too are the aggrieved party. After we constructed the tower, we were told that the location is not right. Our money too is at stake on that site. We are talking about resolution."
The signing authority BSNL which gave the entire order to Nokia, who passed it on to RN Infra and then to Shamshul, are now backing out and saying that they never gave the orders to construct the tower.
When contacted, Vikas Jain, Chairman of RN Infra says: "We have taken up the case with BSNL. I was told BSNL is in negotiation with the owner. My experience is that BSNL never does the agreement in advance. It is an understanding, construction starts and then the formalities are completed. Some dispute must have occurred afterwards."
What about loss of money and energy? Why can't BSNL finalize the terms and conditions in advance and then initiate work?
Mr. Jain gives the solution that if no agreement comes through, they will seek permission to dismantle the tower. Again more money and energy will be spent. And says: "I am also the sufferer. We are not allowed to talk to BSNL directly. We are making presentations through Nokia."
Both Nokia and RN Infra’s official line refutes BSNL's claim that the tower was built without their permission. There is something fishy somewhere. TN Shukla’s views clarification in this regard lacks credibility while AK Mishra – DGM Marketing at BSNL-Lucknow refused to entertain Hi Time’s query in this regard. CMD-BSNL and other top officials and also the MoS-Communications and Information Technology chose not to respond to the mail sent in this regard. Wonder whether Dr. Shakeel Ahmad was apt when he talked of better media management for BSNL!
Agreed that media may not have been critical of private operators to the extent that it writes against BSNL but what can the media persons do when they get story after story against BSNL, that too without much effort.
Hi Time Express presents one such issue out of the countless that can be brought to print. The issue relates to a man named Ram Kumar Awasthi, who is the residence of Nauranga Ghatampur near Kanpur. An exchange was already operational at Nauranga but when the need arose to build a tower at Nauranga, Ram Kumar Awasthi, whose residence is about 200 metres from the exchange, was contacted. An agreement was finalized between him and the BSNL officials, based on which a tower was constructed at Awasthi's house about one year back by Nokia, the executing agency working on behalf of BSNL. In fact, Nokia too sublet this to another company RN Infra Communications, who hired a contractor Shamshul to erect the tower on Awasthi’s property.
The tower had been standing for about one year but for reasons best known to the BSNL officials they decided not to shift the exchange there in spite of Awasthi agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions originally decided with BSNL. Awasthi lays the blame on some BSNL officials who demanded money from him and upon his refusal to pay them refused to shift the tower to the new site. The entire plan was stranded even though the tower continues to stand on Awasthi’s property, for which he has received no payment till the last information received to us.
When contacted, T.N. Shukla, GM-BSNL at Kanpur says that BSNL has done no agreement with Awasthi and its exchange is already operational since years. He says: "If somebody erects a tower somewhere, what can we do? We have not given the order. Why should we be bothered if we are not to pay?"
Mr. Shukla is right that BSNL has neither given permission nor done any expense on the construction of tower. That is why BSNL has not released the payment for construction of the tower to Nokia, who have stopped the payment to RN Infra Communications, who have further not paid to Shamshul. If Shamshul has not paid to the labourers employed to construct the tower, we do not know. Neither has any payment been made to Awasthi in whose house the tower stands.
Contrary to what Mr. Shukla says, Prabhat Sinha, Project Manager at Nokia says that construction could not have been initiated without BSNL’s permission: "We are doing project for BSNL. Acquisition is done by BSNL and rent is also paid by them. They give us the location and only then we make the tower for them."
Likewise, Vijayan Pandey of RN Infra says that the tower was constructed after an agreement was reached between BSNL and Awasthi, about 200 metres away from the exchange. He says that they would not have commenced worked on the site if there had been no agreement. Moreover, why would have Awasthi allowed the construction of tower on his land without an agreement?
There is no doubt that an entire tower could not have come up if BSNL had not given the go-ahead to the execution agencies. But why did the BSNL officials back out still remains a mystery.
Mr. Sinha further says: "Terms must have been written in the agreement. Unless agreement is not made, tower would not have come up." And says: "We too are the aggrieved party. After we constructed the tower, we were told that the location is not right. Our money too is at stake on that site. We are talking about resolution."
The signing authority BSNL which gave the entire order to Nokia, who passed it on to RN Infra and then to Shamshul, are now backing out and saying that they never gave the orders to construct the tower.
When contacted, Vikas Jain, Chairman of RN Infra says: "We have taken up the case with BSNL. I was told BSNL is in negotiation with the owner. My experience is that BSNL never does the agreement in advance. It is an understanding, construction starts and then the formalities are completed. Some dispute must have occurred afterwards."
What about loss of money and energy? Why can't BSNL finalize the terms and conditions in advance and then initiate work?
Mr. Jain gives the solution that if no agreement comes through, they will seek permission to dismantle the tower. Again more money and energy will be spent. And says: "I am also the sufferer. We are not allowed to talk to BSNL directly. We are making presentations through Nokia."
Both Nokia and RN Infra’s official line refutes BSNL's claim that the tower was built without their permission. There is something fishy somewhere. TN Shukla’s views clarification in this regard lacks credibility while AK Mishra – DGM Marketing at BSNL-Lucknow refused to entertain Hi Time’s query in this regard. CMD-BSNL and other top officials and also the MoS-Communications and Information Technology chose not to respond to the mail sent in this regard. Wonder whether Dr. Shakeel Ahmad was apt when he talked of better media management for BSNL!
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