Dot Pulled Up On Oyt Scheme

A parliamentary committee has pulled up the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for not fixing any time-limit for providing telephone conmnections under the own your telephone (OYT) scheme as was done in case of tatkal and suggested that a 30 days limit should be prescribed for the purpose. The standing committee on communications in its report, presented by committee chairman Somnath Chatterjee in the Lok Sabha yesterday, did not agree with the reasoning advanced by the DoT for not fixing a time-frame for the purpose. Without a time-frame there appears to be little justification for continuation of the OYT scheme except generation of more revenue for the DoT, the committee observed.

The DoT in its action taken note on an earlier recommendation of the committee on the issue had said that under the Tatkal scheme, the number of applicants is very small due to the high amount of registration of Rs 30,000. But in case of OYT, the number of applications is very large and the demand cannot be met out of available small spare capacity in the exchange system and connections are released after expansion of the exchange capacity, the DoT said.

N-project: There has been no change in the Russian attitude towards the Kudankulam nuclear power project following the conclusion of the Russian prime ministers visit to the USA, external affairs minister I K Gujral informed the Lok Sabha.

Mid-day meal: The government is considering a proposal for giving cooked food to school children under the mid-day meal scheme with the Centre and the state sharing the costs, human resource development minister S R Bommai informed the Lok Sabha.

DDT: The government has decided to phase out the use of DDT which is now being used only under the national malaria eradication programme in limited quantities, the Lok Sabha was informed.