BSNL to set up 60 cell towers in Naxal areas of Vidarbha

Nagpur: Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited, government-owned telecommunication service provider, is set to erect 2199 mobile phone towers across India in areas hit by left-wing terrorism (Naxalism). Around 60 towers, including 37 in Gadchiroli, are expected to come up in eastern Vidarbha where the reds’ movement exists.
BSNL’s endeavour, to be budgeted from its own Universal Social Obligation Fund (USOF), would pave way for better communication facilities for security and intelligence agencies in the remote areas.A high-level co-ordination meeting among the representatives of Union ministry of home affairs, state police officials from Naxal hit areas and BSNL executives took place in Delhi this week to discuss the modalities. Most of the towers, it was decided, will be erected within the premises of security establishments like police stations.
It is learnt that several remote localities in Gadchiroli’s guerrilla warfare zones, especially the far-flung areas where state shares boundaries with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, are now expected to come under the mobile phone network. The entire project of bringing the affected zones under coverage area would be completed within a year. Apart from enhancing security, the connectivity is expected to be useful for local tribal population too.
A senior official stated tendering processes were being initiated in different states and the work was set to start soon. “Mobile connectivity is a major problem in remote areas where the communication facility is limited to only satellite phones. It sometimes becomes a hurdle during operations,” he said. He also added that having more mobiles would boost intelligence network. “Naxals too can use the network against security forces but they can be fought back,” he said.
Naxals have often targeted towers of BSNL and other service providers in their strongholds as they believe mobiles would largely help state machinery. There are several instances in Gadchiroli and Gondia where Naxals blew up towers. Sources in Gadchiroli district stated that at present 51 locations had mobile towers covering 20 security posts. Several far-fetched places, known to be Naxal strongholds like Asar Ali and Zinganoor in Sironcha, Manne Rajaram in Bhamragarh, Murumgaon, Gyarapatti and other places both in north and South Gadchiroli are expected to now come under coverage.