VIshva Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia has issued legal notices to mobile service providers for withdrawing special schemes on SMS charges during the Diwali festival.
He said that the move of the service providers is against the "Hindus who bought the mobile services and are discriminated against by the companies."
Togadia, in the notice sent through advocate Deepak Shukla, alleged that the service providers have doubled the charges on SMSs during Diwali festival.
"The Hindu customers, who have bought services of mobile service providers based on their advertisements and offers about cheaper or free SMS are being cheated this way on the main Hindu festival of Diwali," Togadia stated in the notice.
He has also sent a copy of the notice to the telecom regulatory body TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).
According to him, service providers have informed their customers that no special scheme related to free or cheaper SMS will be applicable during festivals and 'normal' rates will be charged on the SMS during the festival period.
He claimed that Hindus were being discriminated against by the service providers as during Eid, no service provider had withdrawn the special schemes.
He said that the customers are never informed at the time of buying services that the special offers will not be applicable during festivals like Diwali.
He stated that the regulatory body should immediately take notice of the issue. PTI
