Stating his complaint, S K Jain of Alembic Chemical Works pointed out that unclear printing of billing addresses by the DoT were resulting in either late or no receipt of telephone bills. Jain also alleged that despite repeated requests, the DoT had not provided him with printouts of the company's STD call records.

Pointing to the department's decision to include arrears dating back to more than two years in the current bill of the subscriber, Jain said, ``Considering the magnitude of the accounts maintained by the company, tracing telephone billing records back to two or three years has created a problem for us. One would wish to know why the department chose to sleep over this matter till now instead of settling all dues earlier''?

DoT General Manager Rakesh Babu, admitting ``a shortcoming in the clearance of old outstandings'' assured the subscriber that the complaint would be resolved at the earliest.

A representative of Larsen and Tubro also complained about the late receipt of bills because of incorrect addresses. ``We submitted applications in this regard more than two years ago, yet the problem persists. The bills are still being sent to the old addresses and we are constantly facing the threat of disconnection for no fault of ours,'' he said.

DoT Director, Finance and Accounts, R D Meena, taking note of the complaint, guaranteed that all old addresses would be updated within a month's time.

Meanwhile, a private exchange operator, Yogesh Akolkar of Harshal and Co, was severely critical of the DoT's issuance of licenses to more than one private operator within a 500 metre range. ``It is natural that my subscribers will get divided the moment another private operator starts functioning in the same range as mine,'' he explained.

Akolkar demanded that the licenses of private exchange operators be extended from the existing five years to 10-15 years and caller identification facility be provided for in-coming calls to private exchange subscribers. ``As of now, if any of our subscriber is being harassed by crank calls, there is no way we can trace the mischief-maker. There should be some facility to trace this call at the P&T exchange itself,'' he stressed.

He also pointed out that the department had failed to provide a directory enlisting private exchange subscribers despite having promised to do so. Akolkar also raised the issue of the Advance Security Deposit of Rs 3000 charged by the DoT from private operators. ``While telecom departments in other cities are returning the entire amount to private operators, the Vadodara office is willing to part with only 60 per cent of the amount. We wish to have a clarification in this matter,'' he said.

Babu, taking into consideration the length of the complaints, said that a special Open House with private operators will be organised by the department shortly.