In Karlapat villages, mobile connectivity dropped 18 months ago

EVEN as the Ministry of Telecommunication seeks to implement a 4G saturation scheme across the country, people of 15 villages in Karlapat, the local health and educational institutions have to make do without mobile and internet connectivity for the last 18 months since the base tower has been rendered defunct.

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The tower was set up in 2019-20 by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), drawing optical fibre cable from Thuamul Rampur to cater to the needs of a population of around 3,000.

The area has panchayat office, schools, health care centres and requires forest and police surveillance. There is a camp of the Central Police Reserve Force (CRPF) at Karlapat too.

However, allegedly due to lack of maintenance by BBNL, the tower service became defunct 18 months back and ever since there has been no attempt to restore the tower.