Around 1,100 Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials and employees' mobile services were suspended for two hours on Monday afternoon, May 19, due to alleged non-payment of bills. The disruption caused significant inconvenience, especially as various departmental meetings were underway at the time.
The PMC has acquired 1,100 mobile numbers from a private telecom provider for its officers and employees on a postpaid plan, with the civic body responsible for paying the bills. Even after retirement, employees often retain these SIM cards in their own names. In total, approximately 3,000 to 3,500 such mobile connections are in use.
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Over the past two days, several users received alerts about the impending suspension of outgoing calls and internet services due to unpaid bills. Some officials had already informed the Information and Technology Department of the issue and were assured that payments had been made. Despite this, outgoing services were suspended for many users around 1 p.m. on Monday. The affected employees immediately reported the issue, and services were restored about two hours later.
“No mobile bills of the civic body were pending. This is a fault on the part of the telecom company. We will issue a notice to the company and file an official complaint,” said Rahul Jagtap, Information and Technology Officer.