Consumer
organisation says Courts still accepts telegraph
As the
D-day for telegram services – July 15, gets closer, there are sections that
hope they can pull off a last minute save.
Among
the hopeful who are against the BSNL’s proposal to discontinue the 160-year-old
service, is the Federation of Consumer and Service Organizations in Tiruchi.
The
federation filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Madurai
The
telegraph service is also being used to send grievances to the Ministers and
various Commissions, he added. The BSNL cannot perceive that all persons have
access to mobile and internet facilities, the petitioner has argued. Rural
tele-density (number of telephone connections per 100 individuals) is only
39.90 per cent, the petitioner has said, citing the annual report of 2012- 2013
of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology.
The
BSNL has taken into account only the urban tele-density in areas such as Delhi
Telegrams
continue to be the means for poor and rural people to convey their message with
proof, the petitioner has argued.
The PIL
has raised question as to why the service should be scrapped on grounds of
loss, when other services such as postcards and buses continue to be operated
by the Government, despite revenue loss.
Telegram
charges have been increased almost seven times, since telegraph services were
handed over from the Postal Department to BSNL in 1990. The move seems to be
designed to discourage use of telegraph service, Mr. Sekaran said.
Return to P&T
The
service could be returned to the Postal Department, which was handling the
services since its inception. Discontinuing
telegraph services is against the right to ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’
irrespective of the medium of communication.
Source
: The Hindu
