*Pvt operators fail to make use of PGCIL OPGW
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 8: As the damaged telecommunication infrastructure continues to hamper relief and rescue operation in Kashmir valley, Union Government has directed the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to gear up the efforts to restore the telecommunication link of the Valley at the earliest for which men and machinery are being airlifted to Srinagar from different parts of country tomorrow.
Highly placed sources told EXCELSIOR that as lack of telecommunication link is hampering relief and rescue operation in Kashmir valley and posing threat to the lives of lakhs of people trapped in the flooded areas, Union Government today directed higher authorities of the BSNL to take whatever step they want to so as to ensure early restoration of telecommunication link.
The Union Government even passed instructions for airlifting of required equipment in the Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers from different parts of the country to Srinagar for making as many as possible Base Transceiver Stations of the BSNL functional within shortest possible time. “The authorities of the BSNL have further been directed to lay focus on Srinagar where almost all the localities are flooded”, sources said.
Following the directions from the Union Government, BSNL is rushing experts on satellite-based services from Hyderabad and Bangalore to Srinagar by tomorrow evening to help in restoration of mobile services, sources said, adding these experts would try to restore Digital Satellite Phone Terminal Services to activate mobile services on the pattern of the one being used during Amarnath Yatra.
They informed that these experts would also bring all the necessary equipment along with them as due to flooding of various parts of the Kashmir valley particularly Srinagar the equipment available in the existing exchanges and establishments of BSNL in Valley cannot be moved out for use in restoration of services. Moreover, manpower of BSNL has also been trapped in different localities and they are not in a position to assist the experts.
Similarly, a team of BSNL engineers led by General Manager Mobile is leaving for Srinagar from Jammu in the Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper along with the necessary equipment to start cellular service restoration operation in Kashmir valley.
“There are standing instructions for the BSNL to airlift manpower or equipment from any part of the country to restore communication link and local BSNL authorities are also exploring the possibility of airlifting some material and staff from Leh also”, sources said.
When contacted, Chief General Manager of BSNL, R N Sudhakar confirmed that teams and equipment from different parts of country are being airlifted to Srinagar for restoration of telecommunication network.
“Our battery and power plants have also been flooded resulting in grounding of the set-up”, he said, adding “we are trying to shift these plants to higher position in the same location so that the system could be made operational and put to use. The experts would also assist in this exercise”.
He informed that BTS at Barzulla was made operational by the BSNL engineers this evening and hopefully more BTS would be made functional within next one or two days.
According to the sources, it was due to flooding of battery and power plants that BSNL could not make use of fibre-optic telecommunication cable network of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
What to talk of BSNL even private cellular operators failed to avail the benefit of PGCIL OPGW because of varied reasons including some business terms and conditions with the Aircel, whose Mobile Switching Centre is reportedly functional in Srinagar. “In such a grim situation, monetary losses should not be the concern of any of the cellular service provider as nothing is important that the lives of lakhs of people”, sources said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of Airtel said that unprecedented flood situation has resulted in major damage to the infrastructure and severely impacted its telecom networks.
“To ensure that the people in the State are able to remain in touch with their family members during these difficult times, our teams in conjunction with the local administration and the DoT are working round the clock to restore network connectivity as early as possible”, the spokesman said, adding “in areas where our services have been severely impacted, we have sought help from other telecom operators to switch on roaming services to ensure that our customers are in touch with their families”.
“For the customers who are not able to load balance onto their phones, we are extending the advance-talk time facility in addition to giving them free talk time”, the spokesman said, adding “since the restoration of electricity may take some time, we have decided to open all our sites to public (affected sites will open as soon as they are up), so that they can come and recharge their mobile phones at these sites”.
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