For the fourth consecutive day, a significant portion of Chennai remains digitally stranded following a devastating fire at a key Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) facility. The blaze, which erupted on December 20, has crippled primary telecom circuits, leaving countless customers without reliable phone and internet connectivity.
What Happened at the BSNL Building?
The incident occurred on the second floor of the seven-storey BSNL building located on Anna Salai. This critical hub housed the main telecom circuits for the region. The fire damage was severe enough to disrupt a wide array of communication and online services. Notably, even essential emergency numbers, including police helpline 100 and ambulance service 108, were impacted. The outage also brought down online portals for utilities like Tangedco, halting digital bill payments.
City Grinds to a Halt: Life and Services Disrupted
The prolonged disruption has severely affected daily life in Chennai. Government services, emergency communications, and routine online transactions have been thrown into chaos. Residents like S Seethuraman from Madipakkam expressed deep frustration, stating they are unable to make or receive calls even during emergencies. "We have raised online complaints with the Ministry of Communications and even reached out to the local BSNL office, but there has been no response so far," he said.
Customers are also facing confusion over the official channel for lodging complaints, feeling left in the dark by the telecom giant. This incident compounds recent service woes for BSNL users in the city, who had just endured a week-long disruption due to a system migration, only to be hit by this fire.
Restoration Challenges and Customer Exodus Fears
BSNL officials have acknowledged the magnitude of the problem. While the company's Tamil Nadu and Chennai circle chief general manager, S Parthiban, was unavailable for comment, spokesperson B Venkataravanaiah stated that rectification work is ongoing. "Measures have been taken to restore services partially, and the remaining work will be completed soon," he said.
However, experts warn that the delay could have long-term consequences. V Sathiabalan, a former member of BSNL's Telecom Advisory Committee, highlighted the risk of customer attrition. "Restoring the service is a major task that will take time. It has already been four days. Users may shift to private networks," he cautioned. With each passing day, the pressure mounts on BSNL to not only fix the physical damage but also to restore public trust in its infrastructure and reliability.
