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G. Rambabu

NEW DELHI, May 17

EVEN as war clouds are looming over the issue of "cross-border" terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, the Government has decided to revoke its decision of banning STD/ISD public call offices (PCOs) in the violence-affected areas.

According to official sources, the Cabinet Committee on Security, after sustained persuasion by the Union Communications Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, has finally given its nod to resuming PCO services in the State. The Department of Telecommunciations (DoT) will be issuing a notification to this effect soon.

It may be recalled that the Centre had cut off the links of PCO booths in 12 violence-affected districts of J&K in December 2001, on security consideration. As many as 5,606 PCO owners in the State, who earned an average commission of Rs 2,202 per month, were affected by this decision.

Mr Mahajan, while reviewing the performance of PCOs across the country, was appraised of the economic difficulties of the erstwhile PCO booth earners in the State, and took it upon himself to get them back on their feet, the sources said.

In fact, the PCO booth owners from across the country had made representations to Mr Mahajan following the impact of the sharp fall in the STD tariffs in January this year. Since they are franchisees of BSNL and MTNL, their earnings are based on a commission basis. The booth operators have been losing close to 60 per cent of their revenues every month. They, currently, get a commission ranging from 20 to 25 per cent of their revenues. With the volumes not picking up, it has turned out to be a lose-lose situation for them.

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