Govt installs 1,356 mobile towers in Naxal-hit areas

Towers were installed by BSNL as part of a project to install 2,199 mobile towers in 9 Maoist-hit states by March end

Working against odds to improve poor telephone connectivity, government has set up 1,356 mobile towers in Maoist-hit areas, benefiting thousands of people and security personnel who live in remote inaccessible regions.

The towers were installed by state-run BSNL as part of an ambitious project to install 2,199 mobile towers in nine Maoist-hit states by March end of this year.

An additional 175 mobile towers were also sanctioned by the Home Ministry for installation recently.

All these towers were installed either in police stations or camps of police and paramilitary forces as the Maoists have often been targeting such towers in the past, official sources said.

The mobile towers are powered with solar energy due to frequent interruption of electricity. In some areas there is power connection.

The Union Cabinet had approved the Rs 3,046 crore project nearly three years ago.

The funds for the project was provided from the Universal Service Obligation Fund, a corpus being created by the government through raising the Universal Access Levy (UAL).

The purpose of levying the tax is to provide telecom services in rural and remote areas as these areas generate lower revenue due to lower population density, low income and lack of commercial activity.

The states that were benefit from the project include Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

In the first phase, the towers were installed in 35 worst Naxal-hit areas (rpt) areas and majority of them in Jharkhand -- around 700 towers, sources said.

More than 200 mobile towers were blown up in last few years in nine states by Maoists who claim that police were being tipped off about their movements and locations by informers through mobile phones.

The idea was mooted after receiving complaints of poor mobile connectivity from security forces and people engaged in development projects in these states.

The Ministry of Home Affairs was pushing for the installation of mobile towers in Naxal-hit areas since 2010.

The absence of mobile services has made it tough for security forces to operate and get timely help in critical situations, leading to loss of lives in some incidents.