Monday, February 5, 2001		Article

95: Devil’s number for STD-PCO operators
Panchkula may go to Haryana circle
By Peeyush Agnihotri

ONE man’s meat is another man’s poison, as they say. While the business community and subscribers in general are ecstatic over the BSNL’s connecting areas within the radius of 200 km with its prefix-95 facility, STD-PCO owners are fuming.

Certain STD operators in Panchkula have resorted to the tactics of not allowing customers to dial through the prefix-95 mode as it, they say, affects their business.

Most of them are planning to shift over to something more profitable while others are contemplating outright shutting down. "I shifted over from selling furniture to STD business. This day, with my income going down from Rs 7,000 to Rs 3,000 a month, I plan to shift to something more gainful, like a provision store," says Daulat Ram Jain from Panchkula.

All this notwithstanding, subscribers in general are happy. For them Punjab is now just a phone call away. Though a lot of them are rushing to the telecom department to get their STD facilities disconnected, yet, sources say, it might be too early as a move is afoot to include Panchkula in the Haryana circle. That would mean that Punjab would be inaccessible through the 95-prefix code from Panchkula.

However, Principal General Manager Telecom (PGMT) R.C. Vaish neither denies nor confirms it. "Though I also have been hearing about it, I really do not know. The orders have to come from Sanchar Bhavan, New Delhi, and unless we get something in black and white, I cannot comment on the issue," he says.

Dinesh Kumar Behl, who runs an STD outlet in Hostel 3 of Panjab University, Chandigarh, feels that had the BSNL move been limited to 100 km, it would not have affected them much. "With Punjab having been made local, my business has gone down by 30 per cent," he says.

"The government should do something for handicapped persons who were provided with STD booths on a priority in 1992. I am disabled and my earnings have plummeted by 75 per cent. I just cannot think of moving on to something more in vogue like the cyber café business, as that, too, would require a lot of investment. At least, BSNL can sell pre-paid STD cards through persons like me," Rajesh Gupta, an STD booth operator, suggests.

"It sometimes gets difficult to connect Punjab with the 95 prefix due to heavy traffic. Imagine my plight, I opened the STD booth as a side business along with dealing in electrical items. I have already invested Rs 20, 000 and I plan to close it now," Sudarshan Dhawan from Sector 7, Chandigarh, says.

"We sell pre-paid cards at a 5 per cent commission and anyone can be a vendor for it. If disabled STD operators feel that we should sell through them they are welcome and become a part of the team," Vaish says.

BSNL has augmented the Patiala, Ludhiana, Ropar and Sangrur exchanges, as the traffic had been found high at these places. "Rest of the exchanges have sufficient capacity to take the extra load," the PGMT adds.

Meanwhile, STD-PCO owners have decided to hold a meeting to chalk out their future course of action.