LAHORE, Aug 2: Monsoon rains have rendered more than 25,000 telephones out of order in different parts of the city, it is learnt.

According to sources in the PTCL, the telephone in parts the areas like Ferozepur Road, Township, Green Town, Egerton Road, Samanabad, Iqbal Town, Johar Town, Garden Town, Gulberg, Wapda Town, Shahdara, Krishan Nagar, Shadbagh, Misri Shah, Cantonment and Defence have been out of order.

As had been a practice in the past, the sources said the PTCL management did not bother to set up an emergency relief cell in the city during monsoon to redress the people’s complaints in this respect.

They said since the administration had engaged private parties to lay underground cables the number of complaints had increased. “The contractors do not dig deep as a result the rain water damages the cables,” they added.

They said most of the complaints registered with the company’s emergency number, 18, were not entertained as some of the staff on duty deleted them to show performance.

“My telephone has been out of order for the last week or so. I have made a complaint on 18 but to no avail,” says Mr Qamar of Faisal Town.

When contacted, PTCL (south) general manager Hafeezul Islam who also has an additional charge of north, said the telephones often got out of order during monsoon but they were restored after receiving a complaint.

He said only a few parts of the city like Ferozepur Road where the problem of out of order telephone numbers persisted.

He denied the report that the PTCL had not set up an emergency relief cell during monsoon, saying that the company’s staff was working round the clock to restore out of order phones.

Mr Islam blamed the civic agencies for damaging the PTCL cables during a development work. “A number of development works are underway in the city, resulting in a damage to the cables,” he added.