Vikramaditya & Sarthak Kanjilall
Baratang, November 18: No broadband connection since last three days in the Baratang region has irked the BSNL customers. Residents also alleged that mobile and 3G connectivity in the region is also too slow to use as an alternative.
According to the residents of Baratang, previously, the broadband was linked from Port Blair but since the CANI project is in operation, the broadband is linked from Rangat, while the Mobile connectivity is linked from Port Blair itself.
As per sources, the main reason behind the disruption in Broadband connectivity is due to the damage in the cable that takes place because of the ATR road upgradation work between Baratang and Rangat.
“Just because the major areas like Mayabunder and Rangat are not getting affected after this change over, authorities take it lightly and don’t repair the damage at the earliest,” said a resident of Baratang.
Earlier if any damage in OFC between Port Blair and Barantang, it used to get repaired within 24 hours, because no internet in Baratang also meant, no internet in entire North and Middle Andaman but since the Broadband connections of Baratang is linked with Rangat no one really cares to repair the OFC if it is damaged, as only customers of Baratang area are only affected by it.
Grassroots leaders of Baratang allege that the JTO Rangat who is responsible for Broadband lines do not even attend calls of public and public leaders. Andaman Sheekha tried to contact the JTO Rangat twice yesterday but the calls were not picked up. This shows that how serious BSNL officials are towards the Broadband users of Baratang region.
In present time not only students are fully dependent on internet for online classes, all schools are fully dependent on broadband for all online official works, which are hampered because of broadband blackout.
The residents of the Baratang region now demand the BSNL to station an ETR team specifically for the Baratang and Kadamtala region. Currently, the ETR team is at Mayabunder, and they delay a lot to repair damage in the cable if it occurs in the Baratang-Kadamtala region.
