News Analysis India

Tag: Reliance Jio

  • Telecom tower damage: HC issues notice to Punjab, Centre on Reliance Jio plea

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Punjab government and the Centre on a plea filed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, seeking action against “miscreants” damaging its telecom infrastructure and forcibly closing its stores in the state.

    During the ongoing agitation by farmers against three new farm laws enacted by the Centre, over 1500 mobile towers in Punjab have ben damaged.

    Reliance Jio, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, on Monday, submitted in its plea that “vested” interests are engaged in spreading “false rumours” against it and that the petitioner, its parent company and its affiliates had no plans to enter corporate or contract farming.

    Justice Sudhir Mittal has issued notice of motion for February 8, according to Aashish Mittal, the counsel for Reliance Jio.

    The company has made the state of Punjab through its chief secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Telecommunications and the Punjab Director General of Police as respondents in the matter.

    In the civil writ petition, Reliance Jio has also sought appropriate directions to respondents for investigation into the “well-orchestrated and sustained disinformation campaign” being carried out by vested interests and miscreants against it.

    In the petition, the company has stated that in the past few weeks, its over 1,500 telecom towers were damaged or rendered inoperative by miscreants crippling its mobile network in Punjab.

    A number of its centres and stores were also forcibly closed by miscreants by using “illegal force and intimidation,” it submitted.

    The petitioner submitted that its subscribers were being forced to port to other networks, while its employees were being subjected to grave threat to life and forcibly prevented from serving subscribers in the state.

    According to the petition, vested interests inimical to the petitioner and its parent company Reliance Industries, are engaged in spreading false rumours to the effect that the petitioner and its affiliates were somehow a beneficiary of recent legislation passed by Parliament governing marketing of agricultural produce.

    In a statement, Reliance said it “has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, and in no way benefits from them”.

    The company also sought the constitution of a competent authority under the Punjab Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Act for the assessment of losses caused to it.

  • Vandalism: Reliance Jio to move Punjab & Haryana HC, seeks urgent intervention

    By ANI
    MUMBAI: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, in a petition mentioned to be filed in Punjab and Haryana High Court today, has sought urgent intervention of Government authorities to bring a complete stop to illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants, said RIL.

    These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states, RIL said in a media statement.

    The miscreants indulging in vandalism have been instigated and aided by vested interests and our business rivals. Taking advantage of the ongoing farmers’ agitation near the national capital, these vested interests have launched an incessant, malicious and motivated vilification campaign against Reliance, which has absolutely no basis in truth, it said.

    The falsehood of the campaign becomes crystal clear from the following irrefutable facts, which we have placed before the Honourable High Court. These facts establish that Reliance has nothing whatsoever to do with the three farm laws currently debated in the country, and in no way benefits from them. As such, the sole nefarious purpose of linking the name of Reliance to these laws is to harm our businesses and damage our reputation, said RIL.

    “Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), or any other affiliate of our parent company, i.e., Reliance Industries Limited have not done any ‘corporate’ or ‘contract’ farming in the past, and have absolutely no plans to enter this business,” RIL said in its statement.

    Neither Reliance nor any of our subsidiaries has purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for the purpose of “corporate” or “contract” farming. We have absolutely no plans to do so, it added.

    Reliance Retail is an unmatched leader in organised retail business in India. It retailsproducts of all categories including food grains and staples, fruits and vegetables, items of daily use, apparels, medicines, electronic products of various brands belonging to independent manufacturers and suppliers in the country. It does not purchase any food grains directly from farmers, according to RIL.

    It has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices, nor will it ever do so.

    “We at Reliance have immense gratitude and the greatest respect for India’s kisans, who are the ‘ANNA DATA’ of 1.3 billion Indians. Reliance and its affiliates are committed to doing everything to enrich and empower them. As customers of their services, we believe in building a strong and equal partnership with Indian farmers on the basis of shared prosperity, inclusive development and an equitable New India,” said RIL.

    Therefore, Reliance and its affiliates fully share and support the aspiration of Indianfarmers to get a fair and profitable price on a predictable basis for what they produce with exemplary hard work, innovation and dedication. Reliance seeks significant augmentation of their incomes on a sustainable basis, and pledges to work towards this goal.

    Indeed, we shall insist on our suppliers to strictly abide by the Minimum Support Price(MSP) mechanism, and/or any other mechanism for a remunerative price for farmproduce, as may be determined and implemented by the government, RIL added.

    Far from hurting the interests of Indian farmers, the businesses of Reliance have actually benefited them and the Indian public at large. 

  • Jio gave New Year gift to customers, all calls will be free from January 1

    Reliance Jio is going to free offline domestic calls once again. The company has issued a statement saying that from January 1, all live calls will be free. From 1 January onwards, interconnect usage charges will not be levied.

    The company said that it would honor its promise that voice calls will be free as soon as the IUC charges are over. Jio is once again freeing all offline calls from January 1, 2021.

    With this, the company made it clear that Jio network offline call was always free. After this decision of the company, from January 1, users of Reliance Jio will not have to pay any money for voice calls. Till now, the company was charging interconnect usage charges.

    With this, the company has given assurance to the customers that if the charges are levied by the regulator, then only it will charge the charge. The impact of the announcement of Reliance Jio was also seen in the stock market. Shares of Jio’s biggest rival Bharti Airtel went down two percent with the announcement.