Homeowners, recharge card sellers and users of Smart Telecom towers have formed a 'joint victim group' and started a sit-in in front of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority.
Even after two years since the license of Smart Telecom was revoked, they have been appealing to the government many times saying that the tower has not been managed, they have been forced to pay the fee for the electricity consumed by the smart tower, and crores of rupees have been stuck in the recharge cards of the vendors.
On Thursday, around one hundred victimized homeowners staged a dharna in front of the authority office in Jamal with banners and placards. "We have appealed to all government offices, parliamentarians, CDOs, political parties, everyone says they will do it, they will see, but no one has done anything," Prakashbhakta Shrestha of Thapathali said, "Now we have come to dharna because we think that the problem will not be solved on the streets." There are about 317 Smart Telecom towers in Kathmandu Valley alone and 1700 BTS towers in the country. According to the homeowners, the towers have neither been removed nor repaired, They have reached a state of decay and collapse.
He said that they will hold a peaceful sit-in. Another aggrieved landlord complains that it has been 22 months since the government took control of Smart and Smart has not paid them rent for three/four years. They have raised the question of who will take responsibility for the tower which is in a dilapidated condition and can collapse at any time. The Nepal Electricity Authority is asking the house owners who have the tower to pay the electricity bill and Smart has been consuming the electricity bill for a few years.
'It has been 22 months since the government took control of Smart, Smart has not paid us rent for three/four years, we had to get rent,' another victim said, 'The towers that are not in operation had to be removed from our houses.' Along with the leadership of the Electricity Authority, Telecommunication Authority, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, they are telling the problems to the parliamentarians and public representatives.
Smart Telecom's license was revoked in the first week of Baisakh 2080 . The confusion with Smart's property management and customers and vendors, which was automatically canceled without renewing the license, has not been resolved yet. The authority has said that it has formed a committee for the management and property valuation of the towers. The management group said to have been formed last year has not yet held a single meeting, and the pricing committee has not yet been formed.
