New Delhi, Jan. 29: Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang has urged Delhi to do a rethink on its directive to mobile phone service-provider Reliance Telecom to shift subscribers in Shillong and elsewhere in the Northeast from pre-paid to post-paid connections.
Lapang told minister of state for communication and information technology Ashok Pradhan that the new system had not gone down well with mobile phone users.
?The entire Northeast is passing through a crucial phase with peace gradually beginning to return to this troubled region. Such measures are likely to be opposed by the people and create unnecessary resentment,? he said.
The Shillong Consumers Protection Forum yesterday decided to move court against Delhi?s allegedly discriminatory telecom policy for the region. Mobile phone subscribers took out a procession, saying they would not accept Reliance Telecom?s new system.
Reliance, which is the only private cellphone service-provider operating in the Northeast, has made it mandatory for its subscribers to migrate from pre-paid system to the post-paid category by depositing Rs 1,000 each. The deadline is January 31.
Delhi issued the switchover directive, citing security reasons, in October.
Lapang said the move smacked of contradictory policies. ?During the recent Northeast Business Summit, the Prime Minister spoke of the efforts made to encourage investments. There were attempts to persuade business houses to invest in the region. On the other hand, there are attempts to deprive the people of benefits they have enjoyed all these years.?
In a communiqu? to Delhi on October 27, Meghalaya principal secretary H. Chin Khenthang expressed doubts about the efficacy of the measure. ?It is not understood how and in what way security is enhanced by making post-paid connections mandatory,? the letter, addressed to the secretary in the Union ministry of communication and information technology, said.
Khenthang said it would be ?wrong? to reduce the options that come with mobile phone services at a time when ?the state?s endeavour to curb insurgency has been yielding results?.
Reliance Telecom operates in as many as seven states of the country, but subscribers in only Guwahati and Shillong have been asked to shift to post-paid mode. Apart from the security deposit, a mobile phone user has to pay a one-time amount of Rs 1,000 for STD facility.