No signal, villagers in jail vicinity fume

Blurb: Blame it on jammers at Bathinda prison, a ‘dead zone’

Bathinda, May 4

Around half a dozen villages surrounding the Bathinda Central Jail are facing mobile network issues as the prison has been converted into a “dead zone”.

Residents of Harrangpura, Gobindpura, Khialiwala, Bhokhra, Joganand and Dhelwa villages have been facing connectivity issues as mobile phones are unable to pick up signals.

As a result, they are facing problems in even talking to relatives and friends during the ongoing pandemic, let alone run businesses. Angry villagers staged a protest a few days ago outside the jail, demanding removal of jammers.

They said they met mobile service providers and got the towers installed in the area checked. They were told the problem was due to mobile jammers installed inside the jail.

Harrangpura sarpanch Namtej Singh said: “Jammers installed inside the jail are blocking signals, affecting mobile network in nearby villages. Condition is such that we don’t receive mobile calls. This problem is affecting us hard.”

He said a few days ago, they had gone to meet jail officials, but weren’t allowed to air their grievances. As a result, they staged a protest outside the jail.

Khialiwala sarpanch Iqbal Singh said: “We have tried approaching the jail authorities and the Deputy Commissioner, but the issue has not been resolved. Jail Superintendent Manjit Singh Sidhu called us for a meeting recently where we were told there were no mobile jammers inside the jail.”

They have served an ultimatum on the district administration to address the issue or face the blockade of the Bathinda-Chandigarh national highway.

In March, the Jails Department had shifted at least 37 gangsters to the Bathinda jail, where a special ‘dead zone’ had been created. In this zone, there is no mobile connectivity within a 2-km radius.

Box

Threaten to block NH

* Residents of Harrangpura, Gobindpura, Khialiwala, Bhokhra, Joganand and Dhelwa villages have been facing connectivity issues

* They have served an ultimatum on district administration to address the issue or face blockade of the Bathinda-Chandigarh national highway

Don’t have authority

“Jammers have not been installed inside the jail. To curb mobile phone use by inmates, the jail department has shut towers. The authority to get these restarted does not lie with us”

— Senior jail official