Srinagar: The cellular subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir are being haunted by the telecom companies and this time in the name of Adhaar card. The operators here in Jammu and Kashmir are busy bombarding their consumers with messages to link their SIM cards with Aadhaar and even issuing open threats of a disconnection in services.
The subscribers of state run BSNL, Vodafone and Airtel have been receiving frequent SMS alerts and tele-calls from mobile operators and their field associates, asking them to link their numbers with Aadhaar.
Substantiating their claims the Telecom companies cite a directive issued from the Department of Telecom to re-verify all existing connections with Aadhaar by February 6, 2018.
However, even when there are four months left for linking of the adhaar with deliberations still going on whether to make the exercise a mandatory process, the mobile operators haunt one and all to link their respective numbers with adhaar or face disconnection.
“This is torture. That too when the government hasn’t made a final decision in this regard. The centers are already overcrowded and people are told to leave everything aside and link their respective numbers with adhaar. This is weird,” says a Jammu based subscriber.
There is resentment in Kashmir Valley too. The people in valley too are being told to link their numbers with adhaar to avoid disconnection.
However, the greater resentment is coming from the people living in the far-flung and in accessible areas of the state. They are accusing the operators of pushing the people to the wall and putting them in peculiar situation.
“How could we reach to the main cities to get our adhaar numbers linked with our mobile phone numbers. There is no address of the centers where such processes can be undertaken. We seriously have no idea about where to go and what to do,” says Abid Ahmad, a north Kashmir resident.
People are also up in arms against the manner in which private telecom companies are seeking this Aadhaar linkage. Some operators have in straight terms told customers that their numbers would be disconnected if the verification is not “immediately completed”.
This when even the DoT circular gives time until next February. So why these empty threats, users ask.
(With inputs from KNS)
