Phone, broadband services on Bellary Road gone dead, residents complain

People living in and around Bellary Road, especially Amruthahalli, Jakkur and RT Nagar, have complained to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) that their telephone and broadband services have not been working since March 6.

The BSNL claims the work being carried out by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) along Bellary Road has damaged the cables but the latter has washed its hands of any responsibility.

People said the BSNL was unresponsive to their repeated complaints. “Our services have not been restored even two weeks after we made complaints to the BSNL. We also requested the BSNL to not bill us until the services are restored,” Arun Kumar, one of the affected residents, said.

He further said that earlier there would be periodic disruptions.
But this time, phones stopped working on March 6. BSNL officials claim the work taken up by the NHAI to widen the road in Byatarayanapura had damaged the cables, he added.

‘Problems fixed’

The BSNL DGM (Northeast), Shivaram Setty, however, said that there no problems any more. “There were some problems earlier as the NHAI was undertaking drainage works in Kodigehalli and a pillar had to be removed for that. My officers say the problem has been rectified, but if people still have complaints, I will take a relook into the matter again,” he said.

NHAI Manager (Technical) Prashanth has claimed that the problem could not be because of the NHAI works.

“Road works were completed and the chief minister even inaugurated the road in February. So the problem could not be because of NHAI works. Only some patch work on one kilometre is pending as the land is mired in litigation. There, work is slow.”