Birgunj, May 7:

Workers of Nepal Telecom’s Parsa district branch today went on the warpath, alleging that the police force was indifferent to the growing incidents of telephone cable theft.

NT workers took out a protest rally with banners and placards from their Ghantaghar chowk-based office and went around the town. All NT personnel, from regional director to peons, participated in the rally. They also shouted slogans denouncing the district police force for its failure to nab telephone wire thieves. Their placards bore slogans like “Stop telephone cable theft” and “Telephone cables are Nepali people’s common property”.

Parsa NT branch manager Krishna Dev Shah said due to police inaction telephone cables worth Rs 10 lakh had been stolen from at least 65 different places.

He said due to the cable theft and consequent disruption in telecom services making contact for emergency medical treatment, sounding alert against incidents of crime and fire and providing other vital information had been affected. Shah added the mobile phone network was not so reliable and that PSTN phones were the mainstay.

NT staffer Suresh Rauniyar said the district police office, Shreepur and Birta ward police offices and police posts at Ranighat, Adarhsnagar, Chapkaiyya, Bhakuwa, Inruwa, Bhiswa and Gandak were not patrolling their respective areas after 11 pm, with the result that thieves were getting a chance to steal telephone cables.

NT regional director Shiv Bhushan Lal said cable thieves caught red-handed were allowed minimal bail amount and when they got out of jail after a short sentence, they felt even more emboldened to steal telephone cables.