Arunachal's Shi Yomi district residents face 'poor' internet services

Itanagar, Sep 7 (PTI) Despite the Centre's push for a 'Digital India', residents of Arunachal Pradesh's Shi Yomi district bordering China are facing the brunt of "poor" telecom and internet services, with the local administration having challenges in running e-governance initiatives and students raising concerns over the issue, officials said on Sunday.

Frequent service disruptions have become a norm in the border district, home to over 13,000 people, they said.

"The telecom services are indeed pathetic. Locals are unable to avail themselves of the benefits of digital and e-governance initiatives. Residents, especially students, in the border district have raised concerns and are threatening to launch agitations against the private service provider," Shi Yomi Deputy Commissioner Tungge Loya told PTI.

Due to poor internet services, uploading data is a huge problem, he said.

Minrik Pakam, who recently quit his job at the education department, claimed that it is extremely difficult to upload data of the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) and bank details of students, due to "poor internet services".

"Even when there is internet, the data to be uploaded is so huge that it becomes impossible to get the task done," he said.

Dege Ete, a government employee serving in Lungte in the Shi Yomi district, echoed Pakam.

"If we don't recharge, our outgoing data is disconnected. But when services fail for weeks, there's no penalty. Where is justice?" he asked.

Ete, who hails from West Siang district, claimed that many government employees serving in Shi-Yomi work from other places.

"They cannot contact their near and dear ones due to constant disruption in services," he said.

The deputy commissioner said even tourists, who come to the district, often fail to contact their family members.

However, internet services in other border districts such as Tawang, Anjaw and Dibang Valley are more or less stable, the officials said.

When contacted, an official of telecom giant Bharti Airtel, the main service provider in the district, blamed Border Roads Organisation for service disruptions, alleging that BRO workers frequently damage cables while constructing roads.

A BRO official dismissed the allegation, claiming that most of its works are underway on the mountainside, while the cables are laid in the valley.

"Our services suffer due to frequent damage to our cables. BRO labourers often damage cables during earth-cutting. It results in service disruptions and internet outages," Airtel cluster head in charge Rajnish Mishra claimed.

BRO's Project Brahmank chief engineer S C Looniya rejected the charge.

"We (BRO) took permission from the district authorities, which, in turn, inform departments and agencies to shift their utilities along the right of way. The telecom service provider should have taken precautions instead of blaming others for their own failure," he told PTI.

BRO's 92 RCC Commandant Dheeresh Kumar said the organisation has not received any complaint.

"Internet disruption is also affecting BRO's huge labour force," Kumar claimed.

Mishra maintained that the telecom service provider has been addressing the concerns of its customers.

"We have engaged enough technicians in the entire district, including in Tato, Mechuka and Monigong. Earlier, technicians had to be deployed from West Siang's Aalo," he told PTI.

He also dismissed the claim that the telecom service provider was facing problems in procuring diesel for running generators in towers.

"There are around 37 towers in the entire district, and we stock 1,000 litres of diesel for the main towers for a month. The need is around 200 litres a month to keep the generator running. We are planning to install solar systems in locations where power supply is an issue," Mishra added. PTI CORR BDC