The authorities have failed to upgrade mobile connectivity in Sirajpora area in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district despite promising the same for last many years.
Locals said that the village comprises of at least two hundred and fifty households with more than two thousand population but has been deprived of the very basic right of telecommunications, leaving the inhabitants high and dry.
Locals said that when rest of the valley is craving for 5G connectivity, they are begging before authorities for providing them facility of uninterrupted audio calls which according to them looks like a dream.
“When almost all the schools in valley have resorted to online classes due COVID-19 pandemic, our children though having mobile facility can’t take online classes due to non availability of mobile connectivity,” said Adil Ahmad a local.
“Mobile phones here are used as playing gadgets, nothing less nothing more than that,” he added.
Sonauallah Mir a local said that students from Sirajpora face most of the brunt because at a time when world is resorting to virtual mode, they don’t have access to the internet.
“As I am preparing for civil services and for that internet is a must to clear the doubts but due to lack of mobile connectivity I can’t even talk to my friends, surfing internet in our village has been a distant dream for years now,” said a civil service aspirant.
Locals said that at the time of medical emergency people face a lot of hardships and cannot contact with their relatives immediately.
Locals said that they have to walk several kilometres to reach a specific hilly spot where their mobile phones get strong signal and only then they manage to make and receive calls.
They said that after repeated pleas to district administration, few years back a private telecommunication company started to install a mobile tower here but due to unknown reasons that has been left half way.
Locals sought immediate intervention of Deputy Commissioner Kupwara Imam Din in this regard so that their grievances could be redressed at the earliest.