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If the records of a private telecom operator are to be believed, then US President Barack Obama
is a 21-year-old resident of Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh. In a telling
laxity of the telecom service providers in granting telephone
connections to all and sundry without proper verification, a Nalgonda
resident by the name of M Prasad secured a cellphone connection with the
number 9177523297 by passing off the photograph of the US President as
his.
On coming to know of it, Nalgonda SP Navin Gulati has alerted his bosses in Hyderabad who are likely to take up the matter with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. In the meantime, Obama's Nalgonda mobile number has been disconnected by the cops.
The cops aver that the unbridled competition among the various service providers in adding numbers is the reason for such goof-ups. To increase cell connections, the mobile network service providers have resorted to hiring third party sales personnel who are selling SIM cards on the roads in towns and cities across India and providing the connections at a cheaper rate without verifying the genuineness of the documents submitted as identity and residence proofs.
For example, after submitting the photo of Obama to the third party provider, Prasad had given a photocopy of his driving licence as proof of identity. However, Prasad's photo on the driving licence is completely blurred. And cops suspect that the documents submitted by Prasad at the Regional Transport Authority's office at Nalgonda to procure his driving licence too could be fake.
To prevent such ludicrous irregularities from occurring in the future, the cops have suggested that TRAI should immediately ban the telecom service providers from activating the mobile connections through third party mechanism.
The AP police have also recommended introduction of biometric system to capture the identity of the customer. It has also been suggested that the customer who wants to become a subscriber of a network provider should be physically present before the fixed centre.
On coming to know of it, Nalgonda SP Navin Gulati has alerted his bosses in Hyderabad who are likely to take up the matter with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. In the meantime, Obama's Nalgonda mobile number has been disconnected by the cops.
The cops aver that the unbridled competition among the various service providers in adding numbers is the reason for such goof-ups. To increase cell connections, the mobile network service providers have resorted to hiring third party sales personnel who are selling SIM cards on the roads in towns and cities across India and providing the connections at a cheaper rate without verifying the genuineness of the documents submitted as identity and residence proofs.
For example, after submitting the photo of Obama to the third party provider, Prasad had given a photocopy of his driving licence as proof of identity. However, Prasad's photo on the driving licence is completely blurred. And cops suspect that the documents submitted by Prasad at the Regional Transport Authority's office at Nalgonda to procure his driving licence too could be fake.
To prevent such ludicrous irregularities from occurring in the future, the cops have suggested that TRAI should immediately ban the telecom service providers from activating the mobile connections through third party mechanism.
The AP police have also recommended introduction of biometric system to capture the identity of the customer. It has also been suggested that the customer who wants to become a subscriber of a network provider should be physically present before the fixed centre.
News & Photo: TNN
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