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A Kashmir born woman become third Kashmiri origin person to join team Obama. Farah Pandit will take care of the Washington’s outreach efforts in...
Wicker: Surviving Chinese Onslaught
Centuries-old wicker industry, which artisans allege has always remained out of government’s sight, is fighting a battle of survival on its own. Haroon Mirani...
Organized mess
As everyone wants a private vehicle, authorities struggle to find road space and parking lots to smoothen their flow. Majid Maqbool reports. Continuing increase...
CALLING INDIA INC: SHOULD WE?
Historically, non-local investors have been coming to state as fortune hunters. Now J&K government is again inviting them. KASHMIR LIFE examines if the investors, with no...
Death of a town
The once serene old towns of Kashmir have lost their charm, thanks to the apathy of successive governments. Hamidullah Dar reports the neglect of...
370 challenger commemorated in JU
Hamidullah DarThe decision by J&K government to allow a convention to commemorate the 56th death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee – the founder president...
Will exhumation lead the way?
Investigations into Shopian rape and murder has been complicated by loss of critical evidence. Autopsy has been deemed inconclusive. The question now is whether...
Reaching Out With Help
At a time when families of Kashmiri politicians and bureaucrats were seeking more and more protection, Nighat Shafi Pandit stepped out of her cosy...
Newsmakers
SHORTLISTED: Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night has been short-listed for the Vodafone-Crossword Book Award 2008 in the non-fiction category. Published by Random House, the book...
Woman with determination
In a society where women entrepreneurs are unheard of, Shazia Khan profiles a young and successful entrepreneur Shahala Ali Sheikh who has carved a...
Songs of War, Bands of Peace
A rock of teenagers creates music that speaks of growing up in conflict. And a group of youth come together to compose music that...
Telecom providers fail TRAI survey
Zubair A. Dar
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has snubbed telecom service providers in J&K for failing to meet customer satisfaction benchmarks. The regulatory authority has demanded better treatment to customers particularly in resolving their grievances that a state wide survey identified late last year.
The survey, TRAI said, concluded that BSNL, the lone wireline service provider in J&K falls short of TRAI specified benchmark with a score of 58 percent in provision of telephone after registration of demand.
About fault incidence and clearance statistics in wireline service, the report said, “Fault repair remains pain point as only 44 percent of the total complaints registered in the sample exchanges were repaired within 24 hrs which is significantly short of TRAI specified benchmark of 90percent.”
For live calling carried out by IMRB auditors, only 62 percent of subscribers claimed that fault was repaired within 24 hrs. Even for fault repair within 3 days, BSNL falls short of the TRAI specified benchmark with a score of 72 percent.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has snubbed telecom service providers in J&K for failing to meet customer satisfaction benchmarks. The regulatory authority has demanded better treatment to customers particularly in resolving their grievances that a state wide survey identified late last year.
The survey, TRAI said, concluded that BSNL, the lone wireline service provider in J&K falls short of TRAI specified benchmark with a score of 58 percent in provision of telephone after registration of demand.
About fault incidence and clearance statistics in wireline service, the report said, “Fault repair remains pain point as only 44 percent of the total complaints registered in the sample exchanges were repaired within 24 hrs which is significantly short of TRAI specified benchmark of 90percent.”
For live calling carried out by IMRB auditors, only 62 percent of subscribers claimed that fault was repaired within 24 hrs. Even for fault repair within 3 days, BSNL falls short of the TRAI specified benchmark with a score of 72 percent.
Tendering bias
In Kashmir, even the right to submit a tender for government procurement needs an intervention from Chief Minister’s office. R S Gull reports.
The statement that manufacturing sector in Kashmir suffers because of the attitude of the state government for long has remained just an allegation. Rarely has anyone been able to prove it right.
This month, however, the naysayers were vindicated when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had to personally intervene to allow Khyber Cements, a local cement manufacturing major, submit a tender application. The entrepreneur had been denied the right to apply on ‘flimsy’ grounds by a state government department that makes purchases for hundreds of crores every year.
“We have a huge market in the private sector but that does not mean we can not supply our cement to the state government if and when there is an opportunity,” Umer Khursheed Trambu of Khyber Cements told Kashmir Life. “It was a crude shock that a state government department was seeking tenders from outside manufacturers when better quality cement is produced within the state.”
Unkept Promises
New Delhi’s latest promise to look into AFSPA reverses the ground covered by the Working Groups set up by the prime minister which clearly...
Worker ants, multi-tasking and my broken TV
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