Rooting for local boy Prashant Tamang, fans find their SMSes blocked; vent ire on kiosks run by Reliance, the biggest cellular service provider in the area
Voting for Indian Idol 3 went awry after a large number of SMSes sent from Darjeeling through cellular service provider Reliance were not देलिवेरेड.Darjeeling has been rooting for local boy Prashant Tamang, who had made it to the Piano round of the contest.
Tamang, a constable with the Kolkata Police, had the entire police force in Kolkata and West Bengal voting for him. Sentiments ran high in Darjeeling and residents sent bulk SMSes to ensure the local boy was among the top 10 finalists.
But, to their dismay, a large number of Reliance subscribers found that their SMSes hadn’t been transmitted. That triggered a rage in the hills.
Agitated subscribers damaged a Reliance outlet and burnt hoardings and kiosks on Saturday. They took out a rally protesting against the inefficiency of cellular service providers in delivering their SMSes in support of Prashant.
Although complaints were against all cellular service providers, Reliance bore the brunt as its subscriber base is the largest in the area.
For four hours, the mob went on a rampage, targeting Reliance retail outlets. Even police were unable to rein in the agitators.
Earlier too, subscribers had complained about their SMSes not being delivered and warned of protests if services were not restored. Subscribers were hard-pinched too, as each SMS for an Indian Idol vote cost Rs 3.
It's sabotage
What triggered the agitation on Saturday were rumours that a website had declared Prashant out of the race.
Agitators put up posters condemning Reliance, forced shops to down shutters and held up traffic. They also gheraoed the police station, demanding action against cellular service providers.
“It is a clear case of sabotage to eliminate Prashant in the next round. If Prashant is not selected, we will not only boycott Reliance but also force them out of Darjeeling,” said Darjeeling MLA Pranay Rai.
According to Puran Thami, vice-president of the All Gorkha Students’ Union (AGSU), “Cellular service providers deduct money for SMSes, but do not deliver.”
According to a senior police officer in Darjeeling , there were complaints that SMSes sent between 9 pm on Friday and 8 am on Saturday had been jammed. Only some SMSes reached their destination in the early hours of Saturday.
“Things worsened after Prashant was placed in the last four and just managed to scrape through, giving rise to apprehension in the minds of people,” said N T Sherpa inspector-in-charge of Darjeeling Sadar PS.
Sherpa said he had spoken to Reliance marketing DGM Dassani in Siliguri. “He said 90 per cent of the SMSes have been registered timely and the full figure could be had later in the evening,” said Sherpa.
Meanwhile, a large police force has been deployed in Darjeeling. The BSNL office in the hills has also been put under a security cordon.
Besides Darjeeling, trouble also spread to Kalimpong and Kurseong subdivisions. Shops were shut down and Reliance and other cellular service providers’ offices were gheraoed.
We'll fix the problem
When contacted, Sony Television, which produces the show, was hopeful that the problem would be sorted out soon.
“We have heard about the huge uproar in Darjeeling। Basically, the area does not have the capacity to carry the huge load of SMSes. So, it’s either getting blocked or the delivery is taking a long time. We have spoken to the operators of that area to rectify it as early as possible. We have requested them to install enough capacity so that people can vote for their favourite contestant,” said Kaushal Modi, head, licensing and telephony, with Sony.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=20070610022827812cc46f2fd&pageno=1
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