BSNL rolls out plans for challenged

S K Chakraborty, chief general manager of BSNL Calcutta Telephones, said BSNL was thinking of employing such disabled people at the proposed 24 hour BSNL call centre which is in the pipeline.

He said he felt the visually disabled possessed superior hearing ability compared to others.

He admitted this may require more labour and cost for improved technology and gadgets, but the move would be in consonance with International Telecommunication Union's motto, that of connecting the people and making technology available to all including challenged individuals.

The large number of complaints being handled by Calcutta Telephones justified the opening of a round-the-clock BSNL call center, he added.

The idea of turning this into an employment oppurtunity for the challenged evolved from BSNL closed group discussions, he said.

He promised that a idea would be implemented soon.

BSNL, Calcutta Telephones also slashed the charges of all the Sancharnet dial-up internet cards by almost 50 percent for the handicapped and senior citizens.

The Corporate sancharnet card worth around Rs 5056 was reduced to Rs 2528, while the Regular and Temporary sancharnet card account cost were slashed to Rs 140 and Rs 84 respectively.

BSNL launched free broadband connections for all welfare organisations in Kolkata looking after the disabled and handicapped, waiving monthly fixed charge for broadband service and modem for them.

The theme of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 2008 was "Connecting persons with disabilities: Information Communication Technology oppurtunities for all".

The announcement was flagged off with a rally organised by Voice Of India, a social welfare organisation for the handicapped, and the Rotary Club of Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata.

Ashok Chowdhury, advisor of Voice of World and former principal of the Calcutta Blind School, said he expected BSNL and companies to launch more such schemes in the near future.

He said intense competition was being faced by visually disabled people in running public phone booths and requested BSNL's Charkravarty to consider concessional schemes in terms of rental and call charges for challenged individuals.