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indiantelevision.com Team
NEW DELHI: Telegraph services which had been the mainstay of relay of emergent information before the onset of the e-mail and mobile phones appears to be on the way out.
The state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has decided to discontinue the telegraph service from 15 July on the ground that it was no longer commercially viable. The service has been in existence for 160 years.
A circular issued by BSNL senior GM (Telegraph Services) Shameem Akhtar has been sent to various telecom districts and circle offices and denotes that telegram services will be closed from 15 July and as a result all telegraph offices under the management of BSNL will have to stop booking telegrams.
The BSNL circular has directed telecom offices to maintain the log books, service messages, delivery slips only for six months from the date of bookings. However, complaints, press reports and other messages from different consumer forums are to be kept for one year.
The decision has been taken after consultation with the Department of Posts which books the telegrams.
BSNL has instructed that surplus telegraph staff members would be deployed to mobile services, landline telephony, broadband services and shifting could take place within the next three months.
Faced with declining revenues, the government had revised the telegram charges after a gap of 60 years in May 2011. The telegram charges for inland services were raised to Rs 27.50 from Rs 3.50, Rs 4.50 earlier. Two months ago, telegram services for overseas communication were withdrawn by BSNL.
Meanwhile, BSNL is expecting its revenues to witness a dip to Rs 25,384 crore during 2012-13. BSNL?s revenue for 2011-12 was Rs 27,933.5 crore compared with Rs 29,687.62 crore a year ago.
