Does it ring a bell?

Pervez Cooper picks up the dead telephone instrument at his office in Grant Road. Pic/Hemal Ashar

Pervez Cooper, a South Mumbai businessman, is forced to step out of his office every time he needs to make a phone call; his office landline has been dead for two years. In his office, deep inside Karanjia building, Grant Road East, Cooper shows the instrument to this reporter, saying, "I have been complaining to the Byculla Telephone Exchange. The phone will restart for two-three days and go dead again."

The Colaba resident said, "I have been paying the landline rent for years, though it has been dead. I cannot give it up, because I do not get a mobile phone signal inside my office. I tell people to call me at home before I leave. My family has often been unable to get through."

Cooper pointed to an old electricity junction box at the entrance of the building with wires hanging out. "I do not know which one belongs to my line. I am tired of complaining. I used to go to the telephone exchange to complain. Then I wrote letters. Now, I call to complain. I have also tweeted. When is this going to end?" he asked.

A flat owner next to Cooper's office, A Rathod, said "Most of the occupants have mobile phones," he said. But personnel in an apparel store on the ground floor claimed both their landlines were working. Byculla MTNL exchange officials said they had received a complaint from Cooper on February 11 and had started the telephone on February 12.

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