Police say the death toll has touched 514.As the floods forced most of Chennai and neighbouring districts to shut down, crematoriums and burial grounds worked overtime to cope with the spike in the number of bodies coming in. With burial grounds flooded too, many bodies had to be sent elsewhere, while some were tied to poles and trees so they wouldn’t get wet.

A grave digger at a burial ground near Marina beach said he had been working round the clock along with two others since the floods hit the state. “Most of the bodies were badly decayed,” he said.

While the government is yet to release the official death toll, police estimate the figure touched 514 Wednesday. “Most of the casualties are from Chennai and two neighbouring districts,” said an officer.

Corporation officials in charge of city crematoriums said they were helpless. “While the weekly average is 25-30 bodies, all functional burial grounds had more than 100 burials in the last one week,” one official said.

One burial ground, which typically sees about five burials a day, handled about 100 bodies in the week after the floods first hit on December 1, according to the registry kept there. “Nobody was able to commute, but they insisted that we work as there was no power to run the freezers where bodies are kept,” said a grave digger.

Most of the bodies came in after water started receding, a day after it was released from Chembarambakkam lake. “Most of them came from Royapettah government hospital. We had to struggle as the ground was also partially flooded,” said a worker.

At two grounds, bodies that had been buried resurfaced after the flood water receded. Many families shared instances of having to travel with a body to a far away crematorium or keeping a body at home for a day or two as they could not step out.

For instance, the family of Lt Col G Venkatesan, who died with his wife in the flood in Defence Colony near Guindy, had to travel all the way to Triplicane with their bodies.

A senior police officer who inspected a corporation-owned crematorium near Ottery said at least 50 bodies had to be kept “on hold” till Sunday as operations were stalled. “Bodies had piled up, all decayed badly. Crematoriums in T Nagar, Nungambakkam and Saidapet were flooded too,” he said.

On Wednesday, medical teams started visiting slums adjacent to burial grounds to ensure there is no outbreak of diseases.

11th December 2015 is the 41st Death Anniversary of the Revolutionary P and T Leader Com. K.G.Bose and is being observed all over India. Meetings will be held and the great contributions by him remembered.

Com.K.G.Bose is the leader who gave the P&T Unions the correct line to be adopted. He fought against  reformism in the union and gave the appropriate guide lines. He was dismissed from service in connection with the leadership role in the 1949 strike and was not taken back. However, he continued in the P&T and Central Govt. employees movement till the last.

He was elected as the Circle Secretary of three unions of NFPTE in W.Bengal in 1954. He was elected as the President of NFPTE in 1970. He also functioned as the president of Postal Class III Union. He was elected as an MLA in W.Bengal. He functioned as a member of the Pay Commission for the state employees of W.Bengal.

His life was full of sacrifices and struggles. Even when he was ill and was in the London Hospital for treatment, his mind was with the workers in India. He died on 11th December 1974 at the comparatively young age of 54.

I have many cherished memories of Com.KG Da, who was always there to advice and guide us. KG Bose Mandiram, Calicut  is one of the first union office in honour of him. The BSNLEU building in Delhi is also named after KG Bose.

On his 41st death anniversary, we pay our respects to the great revolutionary who led the great P&T TU movement in its crucial period.

BSNL is planning to float EoI (Expression of Interest) for 4G services in 25 cities by December, 2015.

Speaking to TeleAnalysis, Anupam Shrivastava, CMD, BSNL said, “The eco-system for 2.6 GHz is developing fast and we are planning to float EoI for 4G services in 25 cities By December, 2015.”

The expression of interest will lay the ground rules for deployment of 4G services in 25 cities based on revenue sharing model or outright purchase of equipment. It is still not clear which model BSNL is opting for 4G services deployment in 25 cities.

BSNL has already surrendered 4G license in six circles- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kolkata. Out of the six circles, five are category A circles and one is metro circle so BSNL is still left with 4G in 14 circles and the company is planning to launch services in these circles.

With 14 circles – Kerala, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, UP (E), UP (W), Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, North East, Orissa under its fold, BSNL is planning to pick up capital city and the second populous city from all states for 4G deployment in the first phase.

State run telecom operator, BSNL is planning to launch 4G services in Chandigarh and Jaipur before March 2016 but remaining cities will be operational most likely in second half of 2016.

BSNL is presently conducting 4G proof of concept (PoC) in Indore and Lucknow with Gemini Communications as the equipment provider for both the cities.

A meeting of the available office-bearers of NCCPA was held at Delhi today, 9th December 2015. Com.S.S.Roy, Working President presided. Com.K.K.N.Kutty, Secretary General reported about the activities after the Kolkata AIC. The meeting discussed and decided on  the immediate organisational activities to be undertaken and entrusted the responsibility to the concerned comrades.

The meeting also discussed and identified the issues of pensioners to be taken with the Government before the implementation of the VII CPC recommendations. Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Patron NCCPA and Advisor AIBDPA was present.

Com.K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary, AIBDPA and Asst.Secretary General,NCCPA could not attend the meeting as his train was late by 3hrs.

Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Parliament yesterday that the telecom companies have been fined a total of Rs. 2,513 crores for failing to implement the customer verification guidelines. The violation was found out through the verification by the TERM cells. The private companies are in the habit of providing connections without proper verification in order to increase their customers and get more profit.