Residents of Machil villages rue lack of mobile connectivity

Kupwara, Nov 6: The residents of Ring Balla and Ring Payeen in Machil sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district have expressed strong resentment against authorities for failing to provide them mobile connectivity thus putting them into a lot of hardships.

Locals said that these villages comprise of at least two hundred households but have been deprived of the basic right of telecommunications, thus making the inhabitants suffer.

Locals said that they have to walk several kilometers to reach a specific hilly spot where their mobile phones receive signals and only then they manage to make and receive calls.

Locals said that at the time of a medical emergency people face a lot of hardships and cannot contact their relatives immediately.

“Our mobile phones are of no use once we reach home. They serve as mere playing gadgets during evening hours,” a local resident told Greater Kashmir.

Students of the area face most of the brunt because they don’t have access to the internet. “We are preparing for different SSB exams but due to lack of mobile connectivity we can’t even talk to each other to clear the doubts. Surfing the internet on mobile in our villages has been a distant dream for years now,” a job aspirant said.

The residents said that they have brought this issue into the notice of district administration numerous times but to no avail. They have now sought immediate intervention of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in this regard so that their grievances could be redressed at the earliest.