JOIN USOut of necessity, recently, I asked for enabling the service of call transfer (114+the number to which the call is to be transferred and 115 for cancelling it). This is a good facility of BSNL which comes free of any monthly fixed charges. It converts your landline to a second mobile phone for receiving calls when not at home or office. But the call duration whenever transferred will be billed to the subscriber even though it is an incoming call initially.
I wish to point out to the authorities that by so doing they are collecting money from two parties (the called party and the receiving party) for the same service which is unethical. Further, it is not a good business sense because, if for the reason of this additional charge, the subscriber would not like to have the facility, then BSNL is losing the opportunity of billing the calling party, if s/he is calling from a BSNL line, from anywhere in the country as the call will not be taken since the subscriber is not at home.
I hope the authorities will correct this anomaly and help to support the phone business which is solely based on getting connected and talking. This is an age of free roaming and this kind of charging for an incoming call is out of sync.
B S Shankara V V Mohalla Mysore needs passport office
Mysore is second largest city of Karnataka State. It is also a very important higher education centre. Thousands of students pass out with professional degrees every year. A large section of these students go to other countries for higher education.
Quite a large chunk of these students get absorbed by companies with international operations. In both of these cases thousands of youngsters are seeking passports to pursue their ambitions. Also thousands of youngsters from Mysore are seeking semi-skilled work in the Middle East countries and they are also seeking passports.
Mysore has a very large number of families and households from where children have either settled abroad or working or studying abroad and their parents and relatives seek passports to join their kith and kin abroad. Mysore is also a cultural centre of international repute. Hundreds of singers, musicians,dancers and Yoga exponents from this city travel all round the world spreading the fragrance of Karnataka’s culture.
Apart from Mysore people also from neighbouring towns such as Chamrajanagar, Mandya and Mercara need passports for the very reasons mentioned above.
At present, all these people have to go to Bengaluru for any and every issue relating to passport. This is not only time-consuming but also expensive. Despite all the claims made by the department concerned announcing people-friendly procedures in seeking services relating to passport things are under the control of touts and agents.
This makes the seeking passport services more cumbersome, uncertain and expensive particularly for Mysoreans. It is time that authorities concerned and the member of Parliament took note of this requirement of Mysoreans and get a passport office at Mysore at the earliest.
R Chandra Prakash Mysore Grahakara Parishat
Will CESC clarify?
For the past several days, persons claiming to be licensees of Chamundeshwari Electric Supply Company (CESC) are going around from house to house in J.P. Nagar where I live, changing ordinary electric meters to digital electric meters. and collecting Rs 30 as service fee. They do not carry ID cards nor do they issue receipts for the amount collected. So I have been advising my neighbours not to pay the amount. Are these people authorized by CESC? If so, why is a service
charge being collected for something that should be done for free? If a service charge has to be levied, why is it being collected without issuing receipts? Why can't CESC include it in the next monthly bill instead of collecting it like this? Will CESC clarify before the charge is collected from more people?
G L Nagaraj Urs JP Nagar