When will we get to utilise telephone service? When can we talk with our relatives and friends far away? When will a proper cell tower be installed and our problems will fade away?
These are the questions locals from different villages across Rukum East district ask due to a lack of communication services.
“We have no cell tower to use a phone and SIM card for sending and receiving information. If anything happens, one needs to walk for hours to take the information to another place. We receive information on major incidents too late as well,” said Prakash Roka Magar, a resident of Dharmasala village in Ward No. 7 of Bhume Rural Municipality in the district.
The locals in Dharmasala informed that they remain unaware of the condition of a family member away for some work until s/he returns.
“We walk up the hills to use the phone. But hardly any network is received. The phone conversation is barely understandable,” said Roka.
Almost everyone in Dharmasala have a phone set. However, for lack of a cell tower, it has been of no proper use.
In Putha-Uttarganga Rural Municipality, which has 14 wards, wards 2 and 11 are completely cut off from communication services. The network of Nepal Telecom reaches other wards of the rural municipality but the service is of poor condition.
Similarly, in Sisne Rural Municipality, Chipekhola at Ward No. 2 and Khopichar at Ward No. 6 are completely deprived of communication services.
A majority of villages in wards 1, 3, 7 and 8 of Bhume Rural Municipality have also not been able to utilise communication services.
“We have been requesting concerned authorities to support in solving the problem, but to no avail,” said Chief District Officer of Rukum East Tularaj Sunuwar.
Meanwhile, five cell towers of Nepal Telecom are being constructed in different places of the district, including wards 2 and 10 of Putha Uttarganga, Ward No. 6 of Bhume and wards 4 and 6 of Sisne.
Other than the tower being constructed in Ward No. 10 of Putha Uttarganga, four others are in final stages.
“We have directed contractors to complete the construction and installation before Dashain so that people can utilise the service during the major festival,” said CDO Sunuwar.
Meanwhile, Nepal Telecommunication Office, Rukum East, chief Chandra Kumar Yadav said that the cell towers would have come into operation by now if the contractors had completed the work in time.
Source : TRN,
