As per minister of state for communication and IT, Sanjay Dhotre, public sector undertakings (PSUs) owe the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) around Rs 2.65 trillion.
Further, the minister added that GAIL India alone owes around 65 per cent of the total amount.
According to details shared by the minister in Parliament, five PSUs owe DoT over 99 per cent of the total demand raised. This includes a demand of Rs 1.72 trillion from GAIL India, Rs 484.89 billion from Oil India, Rs 220.62 billion from Powergrid Corporation of India, Rs 150.19 billion from Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals and Rs 54.81 billion from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation of India.
The DoT has also raised a demand of Rs 8.42 billion from NICSI, Rs 3.07 billion from RailTel Corporation of India, Rs 902.2 million from Software Technology Parks of India, Rs 470.9 million from Ernet India Limited and Rs 654.4 million from Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV.
The department has raised demand notices to recover dues from 10 PSUs.
Further, in a reply with regard to payment of dues by telcos, the minister added that government has directed the licence holders to make the payments in accordance with the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) order dated October 24, 2019, and submit requisite documents within the stipulated time frame. He added that action in accordance with licence agreement will be taken against the telecom service providers (TSPs) if they fail to pay the dues to the government.
Meanwhile, the minister also stated that DoT is planning to set up the post of a telecom ombudsman to deal with consumer complaints and grievances on poor quality telephony services. The ombudsman will be the third level of authority which users can approach for their complaints.
