Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
I am an Indian citizen. I had written several letters to your predecessor with no luck of reply. But I was surprised when your office wrote me back on some suggestions that I had made to you on handling corruption. Hence I have made it a point to write to you periodically on issues that affect the common man.
Today I had to go to the local office of BSNL in Chennai. I already have a landline as well as a mobile connection from BSNL. I wanted one more mobile connection for my son and hence asked for an additional line.
The clerk asked me to go to another telephone exchange if I opted for post paid connection and was willing to serve me for a pre-paid connection. I opted for the pre-paid connection. He then asked me to fill out a form, provide an identity proof and an address proof. I am an existing customer and hence produced my current bill. That was for the address proof. Then I had to provide my PAN Card for the identity proof.
I had to go out, in search of a photocopy shop for taking a copy of the proof. Later, he asked me for a passport sized photo which I didn’t carry. Hence I had to come back empty handed.
My questions :
- When I am already a customer of BSNL, why should I produce address and identity proofs ?
- Why should I have to go to another telephone exchange for post-paid connection ?
- Why should I provide a passport sized photo, yet again, when I am already BSNL’s customer ?
- Why does not a premier government undertaking have a photocopy machine installed in its premises ?
I request you to direct the I&B ministry to address these obvious discrepancies. Let me add further that the staff were courteous and efficient , just that the process is so cumbersome.
Yours Sincerely,
Amaruvi Devanathan
#narendramodi, #pmoindia
Amaruvi's Aphorisms 