Villagers use Nepalese network, courtesy BSNL

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, July 27

Government officials and people are facing inconvenience in areas along Nepal due to the faulty BSNL network in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts. They have to rely on the Nepalese telecommunication network for internet services.

“Officials are communicating through telephones as the BSNL internet services in Champawat are not working. They could not attend a video conference arranged to assess the project run by the Uttarakhand Emergency Assistance Programme,” said DS Hyanki, Superintending Engineer, PWD.

A delegation of residents of the remote Tamli region in Champawat district met the District Magistrate today and demanded a better communication network. “We have been using the Nepalese network after BSNL stopped WLL telephone services in the border villages of Riyansi, Pancheswar, Khet, Tamli and Bamangaon in Champawat district from April,” said Purushotam Joshi, former pramukh of the Tamli block.

He along with the delegation met the District Magistrate and demanded more BSNL telecom towers in the region to improve the communication network in the border villages. He complained about a complete shutdown of the BSNL internet network in Dharchula subdivision of Pithoragarh district for the past three days.

Residents of Dharchula have been demanding a private company telecom network as, according to them, the BSNL network always remains disturbed due to unattended faults in the OFC line from Tanakpur onwards to Dharchula.

“BSNL had installed a low-capacity tower at Dharchula after our agitation in 2006, but it failed to cater to the communication needs of the people. Banking services and official works have been hampered due to frequent disruptions in the network,” said Bhaupendra Thapa, president of the Dharchula Vyapar Sangh.