Millions hit as Aircel shuts its services

Aircel, India’s sixth largest telecom operator which has extensive subscribers in Tamil Nadu and northeastern states, shut down its services abruptly on February 21, causing hardship to nearly 15mn customers in Tamil Nadu alone. All calls to and from Aircel numbers on mobile networks and other operating systems shut down. Angry customers rushed to Aircel offices in many cities to change their numbers to other networks through mobile portability. Even this service failed because Aircel tower providers had closed connectivity over pending dues. Meanwhile Aircel’s South India head K Sankara Narayanan said the services would resume soon. Though connectivity was restored in some areas, there were problems like absence of text messaging, continuous static and call drop. Aircel, a pioneering telecom venture, was founded by Tamil Nadu-born Chinnakannan Sivasankaran in 1999. It was a market leader until 2005 having 89mn customers all over India. Strangely in 2005, Aircel sold 75% of its stake to Malaysian-origin Maxis Communications and 26% to Sindhya Securities owned by Apollo Hospitals. This deal is under a scanner due to the involvement of Sun Television network’s Maran family, who had shares in Maxis. Aircel’s market value also dropped after competitors like Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Reliance Jio, RPG Cellular and others entered the market. Five woodcutters found dead in Andhra tankThe bodies of five Tamil Nadu woodcutters were found floating at a water tank at Vontimitta on the busy Kadapa-Tirupati highway in Andhra Pradesh last week.The bodies were found by people who had come to pray at a temple nearby. Police believe the men had been poachers supplying banned timber from surrounding Seshachalam forests. The bodies were autopsied at a Kadapa hospital before being sent to Tamil Nadu. The Andhra Pradesh police denied that the men were victims of police operations on wood smugglers.Other reports said cartels smuggling government protected sandalwood and red sanders trees lured men from border villages of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to their trade. The cartels reportedly bribed forest officials and police besides paying blood money to dead woodcutters’ families to avoid investigation. Investigations are underway.Truck smashes into toll gate killing twoTwo toll booth operators died and two others were injured when a Chennai-bound truck crashed into a booth at dawn at Vanagram in suburban Chennai last week.The dead were identified as Rajesh Kumar Takuva and Neel Madhusha from Odisha state. The truck driver tried to escape but was caught. He admitted dozing off at the wheel.Two days later, a tanker lorry loaded with furnace oil caught fire after hitting an iron post at Vandalur in another suburb of Chennai. The driver and cleaner, who escaped unhurt, lost control when the vehicle’s tyre burst and hit the post.Lab employee injured in spirit attackRaja, a medical laboratory owner, was held for allegedly pouring spirit over his 33-year-old female employee at Madipakkam in Chennai. She suffered 46% burns.Yamuna, who is married with a child, is under treatment at Kilpauk government hospital. Her husband told police that Raja blamed Yamuna for business losses and accused her frequently abstaining from work.