It may not be that easy for the Ministry for Telecommunication and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam ltd to wind up the country’s telegram services. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court issued notices to the Ministry and the BSNl following public interest litigations filed by two persons in Tamil Nadu demanding the restoration and continuance of telegram services.
Interestingly, one of the petitioners is Robert Chandrakumar, a Madurai-lawyer who made a submission that the BSNl and the Ministry failed to take into account the interests of the rural masses before scrapping the telegram services. “Nearly 70 per cent of India’s population lived in rural areas which do not have access to mobile phones and internet. Telegram is also an integral mode of communication for lawyers, litigants, armed forces and the police,” Chandrakumar told the court.
Peter Rameshkumar, an advocate in the Madras High Court told The Pioneer that the decision by the Union Government to scrap telegram services in the country is an ill-conceived move. “As a practising lawyer, I and my colleagues are aware of the significance of telegram in our professional life. In regions like Madurai and other places in Tamil Nadu, telegram is an essential element like air and water,” said Rameshkumar.
He also pointed out that courts in the country still consider telegrams as a time-tested and trustworthy mode of communication. “Its importance is due to the human involvement and the humane touch. The courts and Government offices take decisions and make alternate arrangements based on telegrams they receive from various parts of the company. Communications through email and telephones are yet to prove their credibility,” said Rameshkumar. According to him, though chances of winning the case looked quite bleak, it is a cause worth fighting for.
A consumer activist based in Tiruchi too has approached the High Court challenging the Government move to wind up telegram services. M Sekaran, president of the Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations alleged stepmotherly treatment meted out to telegram services by the BSNl. He pleaded with the court to direct the BSNl to restore the telegram service and hand it over to the Postal Department.
As July 15, the D-day for the termination of telegram services, approaches, demands for restoration of telegram services are growing louder not only from the members of the legal fraternity but from all spheres of public life. One of the most touching pleas has been made by leela Menon, the first woman English journalist in Kerala who is considered as a living legend by women journalists. It is not without reasons that Menon, who demolished the artificially created images of some of the prominent Kerala politicians through her brilliant scoops, demands for the continuation of telegram. She worked as a telegraphist for more than two decades before switching over to print journalism.
“I am not an academician to explain how my experience as a telegraphist helped me to become a journalist. I have not made any mistakes or my editors never had to shout at me for my reports,” Menon told The Pioneer.
“It is really sad that telegram service is being wound up. As on date, there is no mode of communication which is as effective, reliable and speedier as telegrams. The most important aspect of the service is of course the humane touch,” she said.
Menon and Rameshkumar drew the attention of this reporter to a TV show featuring two telegraphists and two texting experts competed in front of the audience to show the might of telegram. The telegraphists won the competition hands down! The video of the live show has been uploaded in the YouTube.
Isn’t there a ray of hope for the telegram servicesIJ