Mobile tower sealing: COAI yet to receive notice

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Q: You are talking about moving forward which is what the consumers would like the COAI and the government to also do. But at the end of the day it is the consumer who has to face the brunt of it. So where do these conversations actually lie because you are saying we were not given that one month notice period. So what is the consumer supposed to make of this?

A: If you tell the industry to come back in one month, two month and you lay down impossible conditions in that saying get a certificate from the group housing, get a certificate from resident, get a certificate of pollution, it is a horrendous task.

If we had a meeting with the regulator in the case of Noida where it was mutually agreed between the Noida authorities, these certificates do take time. What you do is you file your application and give the copy of the application like you do in the case of income tax. You may not get the PAN number but if you have filed the application that is taken as you having a PAN number itself.

Therefore the authority also has to help us out. Do you think it is easier to get a fire certificate today in one day. It is not. We, as an industry do not wish to go against any of those conditions but there are certain conditions which are impossible and difficult to meet.

Q: What is your next course of action to sort this crisis out? If talks do not fructify, are you considering legal recourse?

A: See that is the last resort. I have already sent a fax to the honorable chief minister for seeking an urgent meeting with them. Failing which, we will see what we can do about it. I am sure the honorable chief minister has always been ready to listen. Last meeting we had with her was on January 14 where she listened to us very patiently and she constituted a committee.

In that committee there were all stakeholders involved and she had directed that let us have a consultation process which should be transparent and open. TRAI does that. Call all the stakeholders, call all the RWS, call all the consumers, call everybody and have an open consultation.