10-22-2008, 11:53 PM
We are selling our golden egg giving national assets mostly to so called foreign investors mostly in eye raising circumstances only to meet our cash requirements for free Umrah trips, foreign tours, this scheme for political gains and that. PTCL for example one of the biggest profit earning national project was sold but if my memories are not misguiding me in this old age, as I read, its foreign buyer has not so far fully paid the price. The nation is fooled that privatization particularly in foreign hands bring efficiency. How much new investment from own pocket the foreign investor in KESC brought and how much efficiency in load shedding control it brought we all see daily. I am working abroad. My Karachi residence phone has been disconnected as per a PTCL pre recorded message âdue to non paymentâ. It has been made one way to be disconnected finally soon. For obvious reasons not to publicize I avoid mention of telephone number.
The fact is in order to avoid late receipt of bills and to avoid as such late surcharge penalties in addition to facing long queues by my 75 plus old father I always keep some credit balance to cover 6-8 months. The last bill still had some credit and the balance was due for payment by 29 September which was paid 13 days before due date on 16 September.
Saturday 18 October right from 09.00 I started contacting GM STR-III Karachi on his phone 4828828 and to Senior Revenue Manager on 4827611 as given to the subscribers on reverse of the telephone bills but till 12.45 pm no body picked up which meant both had still had not come.
The PTCL website gives contact information only for âcorporate customersâ. The ordinary subscriber has not value in its eyes. The three contact emails are jahangir.khan@ptcl.net.pk, salman.khan@ptcl.net.pk and Basharat.qureshi@ptcl.net.pk but as said only for corporate customers. Then I went to http//17.ptcl.net.pk/ the PTCL Web Online Telephone Directory Enqiury. Repeatedly I typed Divisional Engineer Phones Azizabad, separately Azizabad Division, Aziabad Exchange Karachi etc but the web online directory system always told me âNo Match Foundâ. In the appropriate place as a test I put my own name and address when result was that the system does not recognize me as a subscriber. When our country had no 15 billion reserves and had not entered into the list of world top honoured countries, there was a complete list of all GMs Phones, all Divisional Engineers Phones including that of Karachi with their phones and emails etc which since imported efficiency inducted by the foreign investors has been removed from the web. The last telephone directory I received was in 1996. Four years back when I made a formal complaint that PTCL was bound to provide a fresh telephone directory every year, PTCL informed the Federal Ombudsman that in 2001 a Karachi phone directory was printed. Since unfortunately more than the normally needed dose of âgood governanceâ has been injected hence the investigation officer in the Federal Ombudsman Office forgot before giving any importance to the reply of the PTCL to see whether this 2001 telephone directory was lying on his table under his government provided phone.
Then I opted for email. I sent emailas at athtar.jamal@ptcl.net.pk, 3ckhi@ptcl.com.pk, gmkrn@ptcl.com.pk, gmstr@ptcl.com.pk, chp@isb.paknet.com.pk, etc but all to get back undelivered. I sent twice emails to EVP Operations South Karachi at evpops@ptcl.com.pk as given on reverse of telephone bill for subscribers to contact him but all these emails also came back undelivered. Monday 20 October after spending a lot of money on making phone calls on this or that number from abroad I was lucky to get telephone number of concerned Divisional Engineer Phones when he told me his fax was out of order. I was given a new number 66 46679 as of a General Manager. The whole day I repeatedly dialed 6646679, 4828828 and 4827611 but no one picked up. It appears either these phone numbers just to complete a formality have been published on reverse of telephone bills or are entirely non existing. Likewise most the emails for some obvious reasons are in personal names as if those officers have been appointed on those seats for ever. These emails contacts from time to me keep on changing. The emails mentioned above I picked up from PTCL website from time to time which keep changing. I remember a few years back I picked up a defaulters list showing arrears in thousands and lacs. I forwarded it to Chairman PTCL in order to know when a phone of ordinary man like me is disconnected even having paid timely, how phones of some unfortunately remain alive for years over years unpaid bills. The chairman tactfully in order to side track forwarded it to GM Phones Lahore âfor necessary actionâ. Later I never heard despite reminders.
The fact is in order to avoid late receipt of bills and to avoid as such late surcharge penalties in addition to facing long queues by my 75 plus old father I always keep some credit balance to cover 6-8 months. The last bill still had some credit and the balance was due for payment by 29 September which was paid 13 days before due date on 16 September.
Saturday 18 October right from 09.00 I started contacting GM STR-III Karachi on his phone 4828828 and to Senior Revenue Manager on 4827611 as given to the subscribers on reverse of the telephone bills but till 12.45 pm no body picked up which meant both had still had not come.
The PTCL website gives contact information only for âcorporate customersâ. The ordinary subscriber has not value in its eyes. The three contact emails are jahangir.khan@ptcl.net.pk, salman.khan@ptcl.net.pk and Basharat.qureshi@ptcl.net.pk but as said only for corporate customers. Then I went to http//17.ptcl.net.pk/ the PTCL Web Online Telephone Directory Enqiury. Repeatedly I typed Divisional Engineer Phones Azizabad, separately Azizabad Division, Aziabad Exchange Karachi etc but the web online directory system always told me âNo Match Foundâ. In the appropriate place as a test I put my own name and address when result was that the system does not recognize me as a subscriber. When our country had no 15 billion reserves and had not entered into the list of world top honoured countries, there was a complete list of all GMs Phones, all Divisional Engineers Phones including that of Karachi with their phones and emails etc which since imported efficiency inducted by the foreign investors has been removed from the web. The last telephone directory I received was in 1996. Four years back when I made a formal complaint that PTCL was bound to provide a fresh telephone directory every year, PTCL informed the Federal Ombudsman that in 2001 a Karachi phone directory was printed. Since unfortunately more than the normally needed dose of âgood governanceâ has been injected hence the investigation officer in the Federal Ombudsman Office forgot before giving any importance to the reply of the PTCL to see whether this 2001 telephone directory was lying on his table under his government provided phone.
Then I opted for email. I sent emailas at athtar.jamal@ptcl.net.pk, 3ckhi@ptcl.com.pk, gmkrn@ptcl.com.pk, gmstr@ptcl.com.pk, chp@isb.paknet.com.pk, etc but all to get back undelivered. I sent twice emails to EVP Operations South Karachi at evpops@ptcl.com.pk as given on reverse of telephone bill for subscribers to contact him but all these emails also came back undelivered. Monday 20 October after spending a lot of money on making phone calls on this or that number from abroad I was lucky to get telephone number of concerned Divisional Engineer Phones when he told me his fax was out of order. I was given a new number 66 46679 as of a General Manager. The whole day I repeatedly dialed 6646679, 4828828 and 4827611 but no one picked up. It appears either these phone numbers just to complete a formality have been published on reverse of telephone bills or are entirely non existing. Likewise most the emails for some obvious reasons are in personal names as if those officers have been appointed on those seats for ever. These emails contacts from time to me keep on changing. The emails mentioned above I picked up from PTCL website from time to time which keep changing. I remember a few years back I picked up a defaulters list showing arrears in thousands and lacs. I forwarded it to Chairman PTCL in order to know when a phone of ordinary man like me is disconnected even having paid timely, how phones of some unfortunately remain alive for years over years unpaid bills. The chairman tactfully in order to side track forwarded it to GM Phones Lahore âfor necessary actionâ. Later I never heard despite reminders.