DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, Aug 30: Even as the North and Middle Andaman region remains chief victim of poor telecom services, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, A & N Circle appears to be in no mood to embark on remedial measures to improve services. Erratic BSNL services dominate headlines of local newspapers at regular intervals; but the service provider still exhibits failure in restoring reliable telecom services in the region. Deliberate snapping of OFC cables by miscreants continue unabated in the region and subscribers reel under telecom blackout for days tougher.
According to reports, any fault in the OFC cable network leads to total shutdown of telecom services including mobile services, Data, Broadband, WLL and Landline services. The breakdown of OFC cables has become a regular phenomenon on every Friday and Saturday and telecom services are restored after not less than 4 days.
Though the thick OFC cables cannot be hacked using ordinary equipments, the deliberate snapping of cables by miscreants exposes the inefficiency of agencies like Police and Forest Departments in curbing the menace. Even the presence of Intelligence Bureau, CID and Defence personnel in the region has proved futile as they have miserably failed to track the criminals.
How long will the residents of the North and Middle Andaman region endure with poor telecom services, questions a resident of Billyground. “Lakhs of rupees of the government is lost as functioning of government establishments, Banks, Schools etc is affected due to the problems. Commercial activities including tourism relative business have been trading losses as they depend largely on BSNL services. Breakdown of BSNL services also affects other sectors like Electricity, emergency services like medical and fire services. People are forced to suffer long hour power-cuts due to the situation,” the resident said.
“The administration should explore other possibilities to resolve the telecom crisis in the region. For instance, services of local Cable TV operators should be roped for repairs of telecom OFC cables. Cable TVs operate on the same type of fiber cable technology and the services are available right from Baratang to Diglipur. If the telecom cables are linked to the cable TV, the local operators with a massive workforce can fix faults in no time,” says a Rangat resident.
Intervention of the Lt. Governor is urgently required to ensure secure and reliable telecom services in the North and Middle Andaman region. Areas vulnerable to frequent damages to OFC cables should be identified and frequent inspections should be conducted. Moreover, the Police patrols should be increased and miscreants responsible for the damages should be taken to task. Urgent action is also required in view of the strategic location of Diglipur, located just 62 kms from China-occupied Coco Island as it poses a serious security risk.
Leave a Reply