Over 600 phones dead after cable theft

Over 600 telephones at Gazipur’s Kaliakoir have gone dead after cables were stolen from a telephone exchange at Mohishban.

Gazipur Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 April 2014, 02:10 PM
Updated : 20 April 2014, 02:14 PM

At least 100 metres of cable were stolen on Saturday while lineman Md Rafique was asleep in his room, said Md Rezaul Islam, assistant engineer at the Telephone Bhaban.

Next morning, Rafique realised his room was locked from outside. He was released by other office employees later.

There was no way to control access to the exchange, located near a forest, since there were not any boundaries, said Islam.

The clients, mainly businesses, are suffering because of the telephones being cut off.
Md Akram Hossain owns a business at Kaliakoir Bazar. He said he was now detached from his network.
Meanwhile, another thousand clients, whose phone numbers start with 925, were not able to use their phones for the past 15 days.
The Gazipur Fire Service Station, with its number 9252628, was among the sufferers.
“We are having trouble getting the news of fires,” a fire service official Md Shahin Alam.
Sub-divisional Engineer at Gazipur Telephone Office ASM Abdul Halim said they had no other option but to shift the phone numbers.
“But it is going to be very difficult and we can’t say how long it will take before the lines are fixed.”