RING, RING: CAN GOA GET ITS PHONE DIRECTORIES MORE SPEEDILY AND IN TIME? >From Frederick Noronha
PANJIM, Jan 13: It is one centimeter thicker than the last time round, some 240 pages fatter, but many months too late. The Goa Telephone directory of 2002 has recently been released, but is still to reach the hands of the average subscriber in this small state of high teledensity. In recent years, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd -- or Goa Telecom -- has done a fairly good job in extending its telephone network. But, this has meant frequent changes in numbers, and the task of publishing its phone directory on time has long been an unfulfilled agenda. Goa's last major directory was released in 1999, and that was corrected upto January 1999. The current one has come out only in end-2002, and is yet to be made available for circulation. In between a supplement of additional phone numbers released was also put out. But in this scattered state, where communication has long been a hindrance, the need for easy-to-find phone numbers needn't be over-emphasised. Like the list time, the directory has unfortunately listed numbers separately for each exchange. This means if you don't know where someone is located, it could be difficult to find out his or her number. "During 2001-2002, 25000 new telephone connections were provided and reliable transmission media like optical fibre cable, digital radio systems (were) installed to ensure better services from the exchanges in the Goa telecom district," comments N Chenchaiah, the Goa general manager. Goa's capacity of the Internet and switches were also augmented. Believe it or not, Goa has as many as 112 exchanges. This has extended connectivity to most areas of the state. But the quality of service is not always even. Krishna R. Agarvadekar of Agarvaddo exchange in Pernem taluka is the first invidual listed in the new exchange. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited at Verna is the last, in the general section of the directory. There are also the 'blue pages' -- which over some 23 pages cover the phone numbers of Goa's overinflated bureaucracy. Yellow pages span some 128 pages of business contacts, with an increasing number of advertisers this time round also including their email addresses and websites. MARGAO CROSSES: State-capital and administrative HQ Panjim covers some 97 pages in the new phone directory. Margao, arguably the business capital of Goa, covers some 118 pages, excluding the Margao industrial estate. Rural exchanges like Agarwado (Pernem) and Agonda (Canacona) have, in contrast, a little more than two pages of phone numbers. By way of an unusual factoid: there are roughly 1300 Fernandes phone-owners in Panjim. Adverts prominently displayed give a hint of the priorities in this state: screens to prevent malaria, academies to prepare for migration abroad, and luxury hotels that crowd the state's coastline. >From the map of Goa showing phone exchanges, it becomes clear that most of the exchanges are in the coastal talukas of Pernem, Bardez, Tiswadi, Mormugao, Salcete, Bicholim and Ponda. There are only a fewer exchanges, spread over wider areas, in the less populated eastern hinterland areas of Sattari Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona. Some of the old mistakes seem to have been corrected; but it will take time to see whether any new ones have crept in. Ironically, even after the directory was released, the Goa Telecom had to release some four pages of 'changed numbers'. This directory does not incorporate the change of all Goa phone numbers from six digits to seven, by adding of an additional '2' before every existing phone number in the state. Goa is known to have India's second-highest tele-density (number of telephones per hundred or thousand people) after only the national capital of Delhi. Send your feedback on the directory to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ENDS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ To unsubscribe from Goanews Send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: 'unsubscribe goanews'
