Diesel shortage interrupts mobile towers in Naxal areas: MHA

If attacks on mobile networks by Naxals are not enough, security forces are grappling with the non-availability of diesel to power mobile towers which has left the telecom network non-functional for long periods.
Union Home Ministry sources said the Telecom Department has been asked to ensure "sufficient monitoring" mechanisms to ensure that mobile towers in the Left Wing Extremist-hit areas remain functional to keep the communication channels running.
In a note sent to the Department, the Ministry has said "it has come to the notice of MHA that some existing BSNL towers in the LWE-affected areas remain shut for long periods of time ostensibly due to non-availability of diesel to run the generators etc. Hence, sufficient monitoring mechanisms may be put in place to deliver better services."

"We know a number of places where towers are present but because of poor supply of diesel to power the generators and other such facilities like poor maintenance, these towers are not working" a senior para-military official said.
The sources said maintenance of a robust telecom network in Naxal-affected areas is key to realtime inputs from informers about the movement of the guerillas in the forests. But with Naxals targeting over 200 towers in the last four years, maintenance of a working telecom network is big challenge.
The recent Naxal attack on Congress leaders in Darbha valley of Chhattisgarh, which claimed over 27 lives including Mahendra Karma and injured former Union Minister V C Shukla, has given impetus to a three-year old proposal to install 2199 new mobile towers in these areas by BSNL.