Asif Iqbal Naik
KISHTWAR
Much to the delight for people of a remote village in Kishtwar district got mobile connectivity.
Machail village which comes under Padder sub-division lacks roads and electricity connectivity as it takes people two days by foot to reach Machail village. The village is famous for Peacock Neck Sapphire.
As per the details available with Kashmir Life, BSNL’s Very High Frequency (VHF) tower has become functional on Tuesday afternoon.
Celebrations took over whole village and its adjoining areas as people started calling their friends and family members informing them about the functioning of BSNL VHF tower in Machail.
Locals hailed the Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Ghulam Nabi Balwan who showed his keen interest in making the successful installation of BSNL VHF tower at Machail by helping in transportation of tower material, engineers and also provided every logistic support including follow up of the matter at personal level.
They said that Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar is also making all its efforts in clearing the bottlenecks for smooth construction of 32 KM Gulabgard-Machail road which is marked with court controversies over alignment of the road.
When contacted Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Ghulam Nabi Balwan confirmed to Kashmir Life as how VHF tower was installed and mobile connectivity started in the area.
“Not only locals,” the DC said, “with the functioning of mobile tower in the area, thousands of pilgrims travelling to Machail temple too will get mobile connectivity.”
He said that keeping in view of on-going Machail Yatra, the tower was installed on roof top of a building till the tower will be installed.
“Tower material was dispatched by foot on mules while some material along with six engineering teams was airlifted in a private chopper for erecting and making the tower functional for which over Rs 1.50 Lakh was paid by the district administration as carriage and transportation charges,” he said.
He said that solar system and generator sets will provide the electricity to the tower as village lacks electricity facility.
“Efforts are on to provide electricity connectivity to the village for which the discussion with the government for formulating a comprehensive plan for connecting the village is at an advanced stage,” he claimed.
In response to delay in construction of Gulabgard-Machail road, DC Kishtwar said that 8 KM road from Gulabgarh to village Massu has been completed.
“There was a dispute between village Ghar and Massu for which efforts are on to solve the dispute amicably,” he said. “Within a week or two, the said dispute will be addressed.”
