Gurez, Aug 13: The inhabitants of Gurez have complained that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited telephone exchange in the area remains defunct most of the times causing immense hardships to the people.
 Demanding more Towers in the area, the inhabitants said the only BSNL tower installed in the year 2009 remains overloaded causing connectivity problem.
 They said the authorities are not keen to develop the telecommunication system in the area due to the reasons best known to them.
 “The telephone exchange remains out of the order for most of the times during the day,” the residents complained.
  “The exchange was established in 1995 and provides land line telephone service to 500 subscribers. The authorities haven’t upgraded and augmented the exchange which is only providing service to three out of 12 villages in the area,” the residents added.
 Complaining about poor BSNL service in the area, subscribers said the tower remains defunct most of the time causing connectivity problem.
 Locals said the tower does not function during the day time. “It is unfortunate that the generator at the tower is not being used during the power outage due to which the tower remain defunct,” they said.
 The residents said the government assurance about the start of mobile service in the area has also proven a mere hoax.
 Sources said the security agencies have objected to the installation of more mobile towers in Gurez for certain reasons. “Authorities are not allowing installation of more towers in the area, besides they are not able to maintain the only tower which is irking the subscribers,” residents said.
 "One mobile tower is insufficient for the population of Gurez where there are about 2000 subscribers of BSNL," they said.
 The residents said that due to the defunct exchange and erratic mobile service, the people were facing immense hardships. “Many youth are working and studying outside the state and in Srinagar and their families are facing huge inconvenience in reaching out to them due to non-availability of the telecommunication service,” the residents said adding these families had to approach nearby Army camp to make phone calls.  
 They urged the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah to intervene in the matter.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST