Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, June 9: Member Parliament, Thupstan Chhewang today said that Union Government has been requested to consider Optical Fiber Cable connectivity for Ladakh via Srinagar and Manali.
He was responding to the issue of reliable telecommunication connectivity of Ladakh region raised during the maiden meeting of Telecom Advisory Committee held under the joint chairmanship of Phuntsog Dorjey, TDM and Chairman TAC Ladakh and Thupstan Chhewang MP, Co-Chairman TAC Ladakh.
After having a detail deliberation on all the issues of telecommunication services being provided by BSNL in Ladakh region, the Committee decided to segregate all minor and major issues of BSNL so that appropriate issues could be taken up with Union Ministries of Defence and Home and CGM separately.
The TDM informed that BSNL was not able to put mobile towers in most of the leftover villages as the same was financially non-viable due to low population and very high operational cost. The Chairman requested MP to take up the matter with Department of Telecommunication for Universal Service Obligation (USO) funding of towers and 117 DSPTs for Ladakh.
Mr Chhewang assured the Committee that he will take up the issue on priority at appropriate level for USO funding of mobile towers and DSPTs for leftover villages. He informed that he has already taken up the matter for laying of OFC for BSNL along with NFS project with Defence Minister during his recent visit to Leh. “This will ensure reliable OFC connectivity for Ladakh via Srinagar and Manali”, he added.
Meanwhile, Member Parliament inaugurated the Indus Water Pump Lifting Project at Phey village. Completed at a total cost of Rs 24 lakh, this water lifting project has a capacity of lifting 28 liters of water per second for irrigation purpose.
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