Inaugurating the 44th telephone adalat at PHD House this morning, Swaraj said that the government will endeavour to make all the telephone exchanges in the Capital electronic by December, adding that ``an effective mechanism to ensure smooth functioning of the over 15 lakh telephones in the capital will also be worked out soon.''

Explaining her self-proclaimed title of ``the impatient minister with a bias for action'', Swaraj said that telecommunication is a medium that has direct links with the people and reflects the government's image. She asked both Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Department of Telecom (DoT) personnel ``to get rid of indifference and join the competitive world,'' adding that ``we have the big infrastructure and manpower and only thing needed is motivation''.

Meanwhile, MTNL chairman and managing director S. Rajgopalan said, ``We are certainly not proud of the long list of people who have paid and are waiting for connections, and also the sub-optimal services like faulty billing and inability to give correct information.''

But Rajgopalan is optimistic about the future of MTNL services as he said that MTNL is spending Rs 10,000 per employee on training to ensure better customer service. Rajgopalan also acknowledged the fact that this training is essential to deal with possible future competition from the private sector. The adalat, held at both PHD House and K.L. Bhavan, heard 285 complaints, of which 263 cases were settled. The cases were heard by groups of senior MTNL officials and decided after discussions with aggrieved customers.

MTNL Delhi has been holding these adalats every three months since August 1987.