It is no longer a cakewalk to get a mobile phone connection in the northeast infested by militants. The Department of Telecom has laid down a set of fresh strict guidelines for giving new cell phone connection by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and private mobile phone operators.
The DoT's move is aimed at preventing militants getting hooked to mobile network by taking connections using fake names. The fresh guidelines on new connections have been issued after the security forces had recovered a large number of mobile phones SIM cards from arrested and killed militants in Assam during the last couple of months.
The fresh set of DoT guidelines has made it mandatory that applications for new mobile phone connections be endorsed by a guarantor or introducer who must be a subscriber of the same service at least for the previous three months.
The mobile phone companies have been asked to cross check all documents submitted by the new subscriber through telephonic conversation, which should be recorded. CDs of such conversations should be submitted to security agencies as well the DoT.
The SIM cards must be sent to the new subscriber through the speed post service and under no circumstances should it be handed over personally, according to a source in the DoT.
In June, the Army made public a list of 221
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