Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has proposed mobile telephone towers for the border villages of district Kathua, which is a part of his Lok Sabha constituency.
Disclosing this here to the media persons on the sidelines of a felicitation function, Dr Jitendra Singh said, during his visit to the border villages of the district, last fortnight, it was brought to his notice that the mobile telephone signal was very poor in the border areas, as a result of which, people living in the border villages found themselves quite handicapped.
He said, he took a serious note of it, also because mobile signal has a special significance for youth and students who, nowadays, to a large extent, depend on mobile connectivity and internet for their day to day work and studies. In addition, being located on the International Border with Pakistan, there is also a security angle involved which calls for a free and easy connectivity, he said.
On his return to the union capital, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he took up the issue in concerned quarters, but realized that most of the private telecom companies were reluctant to set up towers in these areas because of lack of economic viability for them. He has, therefore, taken up this issue directly with the Union Minister for Communication Manoj Sinha.
Even though there is no such laid – down policy to set up special mobile telephone towers in the border areas, Dr Jitendra Singh has proposed to the Union Communication Minister Manoj Sinha to take this up as a special case and prepare a special plan / package for installation of such towers in the border areas, considering the sensitivity of their requirement.
In an official communique addressed to Manoj Sinha, Dr Jitendra Singh has also, as an instance, named some of the border villages in district Kathua which are particularly in need of suitable infrastructure for mobile telephone towers which could be brought up by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). The villages named by him include Kot Punu, Mehrajpur, Kadyala, Karol Mathuran, Patti Meru, Londi, Dag Channi, etc.
Pertinent to mention, around 400 Sulabh toilets have already been constructed in the border villages of district Kathua through voluntary funds raised by Dr Jitendra Singh, and more such toilets are planned to be constructed. Also, with his efforts, the reservation for International Border residents at par with LoC has been approved and orders will be issued any time now.
Meanwhile, through the Union Home Ministry, bunkers are being constructed and nine new battalions of para-military forces, including two women batallions, are also being raised with reservation for border area residents.
Earlier in the day, a large number of Government officials from different departments of Central Government called on Dr Jitendra Singh and felicitated him for his decision, as Minister In-Charge DoPT, to order mass promotions of nearly 4,000 officials, whose promotion had been held up for the last over 10 to 15 years, either due to litigation or some other reasons of delay.
Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that in the next few days, another around 500-600 promotions will be ordered and the remaining pending cases will also be followed up on fast-track because he is of the firm view that every government employee should get the benefit of promotion at due time in order to keep him motivated to perform his work with efficiency and interest.
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