Mumbai: Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking urgent intervention of Government authorities in halting destruction of towers and telecom infrastructure belonging to the Mukesh Ambani-owned telecom unit. Jio alleged that the acts of vandalism were instigated by “business rivals” - who in this case are Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi).
“Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), in a petition mentioned to be filed in Honourable Punjab and Haryana High Court today, has sought the urgent intervention of Government authorities to bring a complete stop to the illegal acts of vandalism by miscreants,” said RIL in a statement on Monday.
Telecom services have been disrupted in Punjab after farmers protesting against new farm laws disconnected power supplies and cut fibre, most of which belonged to or were being used by Jio.
“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,” Jio added.
The telco also laid the blame on “business rivals” who according to the largest telco today, were aided by vested interests.
“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,” said the statement.
There have been previous allegations by Jio against Airtel and Vi to both telecom department and regulator on how they are encouraging the rumour mongering in a bid to get customers, which were denied by both competitors.
The attacks by protesting farmers on infrastructure supporting Jio’s network come amid rumours that the new farm laws would allegedly benefit Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and Gautam Adani’s Adani Group. However, neither of these groups procure foodgrains from farmers.
Jio on behalf of the parent group and other units denied any such role in farm laws.
“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,” it added.
The statement also goes on to highlight that Reliance Retail or any other unit has no plans to enter contract farming or plans to do so.
"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... 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", said the oil to telecom business group.
It also clarified that it does not buy any food grains directly from the farmers and has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to "gain an unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices, nor will it ever do so".
The group and its units "fully share and support" the aspiration of Indian farmers to get a fair and profitable price on a predictable basis...", said the Ambani led conglomerate. "...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 farm produce, as may be determined and implemented by the government," it added.
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