In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Kapil Sibal, minister of communications and IT has stated that as of December, 2012 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) are yet to collect outside arrears of Rs 62.15 from users. Further, government offices and public representatives owe Rs 0.19 billion to MTNL, in Delhi and Mumbai circles.
Sibal stated that BSNL has outstanding arrears of Rs 51.88 billion from wireline and wireless customers. MTNL have to collect dues of Rs 0.14 billion and Rs 0.04 billion in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively from government offices and public representatives, he said.
According to Sibal to recover the outstanding bills, the two operators are taking several measures including payment reminders through interactive voice response system (IVRS) and short message service (SMS), graded discount schemes. Further, procedure for settlement of defaulter cases through Lok Adalat has been introduced for recovery of outstanding telephone dues in respect of permanently closed connections.
