LANDI KOTAL, Feb 24: Dozens of telephone lines here are out of order due to the apathy of the officials concerned, alleged a number of subscribers, who gathered at the Landi Kotal telephone exchange when a committee of councillors visited the office on Thursday.

The subscribers told the committee, led by Zar Ahmad Shah, that they had faced recurring faults during the last six months. They alleged that the linesmen demanded Rs200 for rectifying a fault.

A number of shops and school owners also turned up at the exchange and complained that their phone lines had been out of order for three months despite several complaints.

They demanded that the linemen posted at the exchanged should be transferred. A telephone operator, when contacted, said the faults had developed after miscreants cut the main line in Khugakhel.