*New Delhi / Chandigarh, March 15*Rajya Sabha Member Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal has raised the issue of the increasing financial burden on common people due to the policies of telecom companies and their alleged exploitative practices in Parliament. Through a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, he asked the central government whether it is taking any concrete steps to stop the exploitation of customers and the coercive policies adopted by telecom companies.

Sant Seechewal specifically highlighted that mobile users today no longer have the freedom to opt for small recharges according to their needs. Telecom companies are imposing expensive plans, and if a customer fails to recharge within the stipulated time, their SIM card is deactivated. He asked the government whether telecom regulations would be amended to allow people the freedom to choose smaller and cheaper recharge options based on their usage, so that ordinary users do not live under the constant fear of their SIM being deactivated. He also asked whether more transparency would be introduced in tariff and validity policies.

In response, Union Minister of State for Communications Sh. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said that the tariffs of telecom services are monitored under the regulations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). According to the current system, telecom companies have the freedom to determine their tariffs based on market conditions. He stated that, while complying with regulations, companies can design different types of plans for calls, messages, data offers, and varying validity periods.

On this issue, Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal said, “Today, a mobile phone has become a basic necessity for every common person, but some telecom companies have turned it into a means of making profit by imposing expensive recharge plans on people. This directly increases the financial burden on the poor and the middle class.”

He added that if companies continue to receive excessive freedom, the burden on people’s pockets will increase further and ordinary citizens will continue to face exploitation. He urged the government to introduce strict regulations to protect consumer interests in the telecom sector, implement a transparent system, and ensure that SIM cards and incoming calls of common users are not deactivated simply because they fail to recharge.