THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Faulty BSNL telephone services at police stations like Medical College and Fort have caused problems for citizens trying to get help. On Saturday, when a few youth were manhandled at Attakulangara, it took nearly 10 minutes for police to reach them in spite of Fort police station being located 150 metres away. Some panic stricken citizens could not get policemen on the line.
BSNL has not reinstated services to Fort station even on Tuesday. The message says that ‘service to the number is disconnected’. Similar is the situation with Medical College Police station which is one of the busiest police stations.
While BSNL officials say that the issue could be because of non-payment of bills, policemen respond that it is because of a fault at the exchange. “It’s causing difficulty not just to people. Even I cannot give orders to my men in station.
“If this had something to do with our department we could have set it right,” said Circle Inspector Manoj Kumar K.B. Similar problems occur at Karamana and voice clarity is an issue at Vizhinjam police station. The calls at Vizhinjam sometimes get dropped after two rings.
As per statistics, around 5,000 BSNL landline phones remain out of order on any given day in Thiruvananthapuram district. The city police commissioner Sprajan Kumar said that mobile phone numbers of officers have been given to people as a part of Janamaithri initiatives and therefore it would not cause serious problems to anyone.
“During distress calls that may get dropped, return calls shouldn't be expected from police stations as only calls worth '1,100 can be made from a landline every month,” an officer said.
