Installation of mobile tower in remote villages on the Indo-China border brings cheer among the residents in the Pithoragarh district

BD Kasniyal
GG News Bureau
Pithoragarh, 3rd June. The installation of the mobile tower by a private company Jio at Saama village in Darma Valley under Munsiyari and Dharchula sub-division has brought smiles to the faces of the villagers living in the remote villages in Pithoragarh district.

Harish Singh student of class 8th from Namik village is delighted at this new development as he can connect to his school online and attend classes despite erratic connectivity.
.”The villagers and the students in remotest Namik village have to climb over a steep hill to talk to friends or attend classes as one tower installed in the village does has no clear signals, “ said Puran Pandey, resident of Johar valley.
“The JIO company mobile tower was installed at Saama two months back and started functioning a month and a half, back and with the mobile phones ringing for the first time has provided the connectivity to the school,” said Harish Singh. Communication network in the high Himalayan villages along Indo- Nepal and Indo -China border in Dharchula subdivision of the district is being provided by Jio company and its mobile towers have become functional in some places,” said AK Shukla, SDM Dharchula.
“Where the Jio towers are not working, the BBNL company is providing VSATs communication network to provide internet facility to the villagers living in high Himalayan altitude villages above 8000 feet, “said Shukla.

According to SDM, all 35 migration villages, including 23 in three valleys of the Dharchula subdivision and 12 in Johar valley, will get this facility. “With the saturated communication facilities in these Himalayan villages, the long-standing demand for communication facilities from villagers has been met, “said SDM AK Shukla.
Although there some connectivity issues still persist at the sites where the io Tower have started functioning. The villagers have complained of weak and fragmented signals being received
The villagers in Darma valley have said that the VSATs have reached their remote high Himalayan villages, but are awaiting the start of the towers.
“Due to the Covid epidemic, the company’s engineers are yet to reach the villages, “said Shalu Datal a resident of Dantu village of Darma valley.
According to Data, after the better communication facilities, the abandoned villages at Indochina border will be rehabilitated and villagers will be able to reside the villages all over the year.” If medical facilities in the region could be strengthened, the second line of defence at Indo-China and Indo-Nepal Border would be vital again. “Said Datal.
The villagers said that they used to depend on defence communication facilities to communicate outside during their summer stay in these valleys. “With the basic facilities of road, communication health and livelihood through homestay facilities, agriculture some villagers stay in these villages in winter months as well, “said Tej Singh Gunjiyal, a villager from Gunji from Vyas valley. Sona Devi from Gunji said,” We had been demanding this facility for several decades and now our voice has been heard. “Today I talked to my daughter who lives in New Delhi to get the latest on the Covid situation in the country and I could not hold back y tears as it has been More than two years that we have met each other physically”, said Vimla native of the village.