Raja orders action against unsolicited calls

An unsolicited telemarketing call to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is what it took Telecom Minister A Raja to swing into action for prohibiting immediately such intruding calls.

Within hours of reports that Mukherjee himself was at the receiving end of such calls, Raja activated his ministry to take steps against such calls that 'encroach' into the privacy of telecom consumers, an issue that has been haunting every single consumer despite the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's attempts to ban such a nuisance.

Raja has asked Telecom Secretary P J Thomas to convene a meeting and steps be taken to prohibit unsolicited calls immediately.

"A wide range of products and services are now a days offered through tele-marketing which result in inconvenience and disturbance to telecom consumers," Raja said in a note to the secretary.

During an interaction with political leaders to resolve the logjam on price rise debate in Parliament, Mukherjee on Monday got a call with loan offers from some company evoking a strong reaction from him.

Those present at the meeting said Mukherjee asked his aides to hand him the mobile, thinking it must be an important call. However, he (Mukherjee) told the caller, "No, no. Not now. I am in a meeting."

Visibly angry, he handed over his mobile to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayansamy.

When others asked who had called, an embarrassed Mukherjee said it was one of the finance companies, which had called to offer him a home loan. He then said he gets four-five such calls everyday.

Image: A Raja