05 January 2004	Monday	12 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 4: The police department's efficiency has been affected after out-going calls on their telephone lines were blocked. Some of the police department's telephone lines were restored on Sunday, police officials said here.

The telephone lines were rendered one-way because of non-payment of dues. Officials of the National Telecommunication Corporation said the police department's telephone lines would be restored as soon as payments were made.

Police officials said outgoing calls of some of the department's telephones were blocked on Friday while a majority of the telephone lines were affected on Saturday.

Police officials said that two-way calls on some of the telephone lines were restored after making part payments against phone bills to the National Telecommunication Corporation while some other lines were also restored after extending assurances regarding making payments by Monday.

The police department had to rely on their wireless sets for communication, officials said. The working of various police stations was also severely impaired, they added.

Provincial and city police chiefs could not be contacted despite repeated attempts of this correspondent. NTC chairman Aftab A. Khan told Dawn on Sunday that the NTC had designed the system in such a manner that outgoing calls of any telephone subscriber, who did not pay outstanding dues, were restricted.

"We do not disconnect the line but the telephone (line) is rendered one-way on non-payment (of dues) serving as a warning to the subscriber", he said. "It is not a major issue ... It is a routine matter. As soon as the payment is received, the telephone line is restored", Mr Khan said.