Left demands Baijal's head

Rs 2,000 crore scam on since last year: CPI(M)

The Left has sought immediate dismissal of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chief Pradip Baijal for "criminal connivance" with private telecom operators who they allege are under-invoicing their access deficit charges (ADC) payments. This, the Left said, was causing losses to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

It has also demanded that the government order the Trai to conduct a full-fledged inquiry into the Rs 550 crore "telecom scam" under the security clause in the Trai Act.

Mounting a scathing attack on Baijal at a press conference here, CPI(M) member of Parliament Nilotpal Basu said: "He (Baijal) has said he is not a policeman to check the by-passing of access deficit charges by private telecom operators. As the chairman of the Trai, he has no business making statements of this kind. Not exercising his powers is a criminal act of negligence."

Basu had also raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha earlier in the day.

He blamed the telecom department for misleading Parliament in claiming that the loss to the country on account of ADC under-invoicing was about Rs 350 crore, when cases filed by BSNL and MTNL in the Delhi High Court showed a loss of Rs 550 crore.

What triggered for the Left's attack on Baijal was an announcement made yesterday that Trai was considering reducing ADC for international calls.

Charging Baijal with trying to "cover up" the fraud of private operators, Basu said the previous government had encouraged the by-pass when Arun Shourie was the telecommunications minister and Baijal had been helped by his proximity to Shourie.

Basu said the current scam of about Rs 2,000 crore due to non-payment of ADC had taken place over the past one year and it had been continuing even now.

The Left has been arguing that the corpus available from the access deficit charges payment is meant for the development of telecom facilities in commercially non-viable areas.

In its last note on foreign direct investment in the telecom sector to the government, the Left had brought up the issue.

Basu, however, refrained from giving the government a deadline for complying with the demand. "It is up to the government. We have pointed out that it is not an intra-operator dispute but a violation of the conditions of licence."

"We are supporting the UPA government on the common minimum programme, which is essentially to do justice with the people of the country and embark upon reforms with a human face," Basu said, adding "in the interest of this we are demanding immediate removal of Baijal and an investigation into the matter."

Quoting from a May 15, 2003 Trai consultation paper, Basu said the regulatory body was aware since then of the grey market in ADC by-pass.

But instead of checking it, the Trai had reduced it for international long-distance calls from Rs 5 to Rs 4.25 and for national long-distance calls from Rs 4 to 80 paise.

This difference in rates was responsible for private operators passing off ILD calls as NLD calls, thereby cheating on the ADC, Basu alleged.

He said this was achieved by hiding the caller line identification of incoming calls and that it posed a security threat to the country.

Meanwhile, the Congress today steered clear of the CPI(M)'s demand for dismissal of the Trai chief for allegedly acting in "connivance" with private telecom operators including Reliance, which are accused of fleecing BSNL by not paying ADC dues.

"It is for the concerned minister to look into it. We are neither aware of the facts, nor we wish to intervene,' party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters. He was reacting to Basu's demand for sacking of the Trai chief.