Himachal govt speeds up restoration of telecom services in rain-hit districts

The Himachal Pradesh government is working on top priority to restore telecommunication services badly damaged by heavy rains in Chamba, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts on August 25 and 26.

The breakdown disrupted communication networks, causing major inconvenience to the public and posing serious challenges to relief and emergency response. According to official data, nearly 65 percent of the damaged sites were restored by September 2.

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The devastation was most severe in Chamba, where out of 1,761 sites run by Airtel, Reliance Jio, BSNL and Vodafone Idea, as many as 1,155 – about 66 percent – were non-functional on August 27.

Recognizing the urgency, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu directed immediate round-the-clock restoration work. Power supply was restored on priority and all telecom service providers were mobilized to resume services on a war footing.

Principal Advisor (IT and Innovation) to the Chief Minister, Gokul Butail, said that by September 2, only 374 sites remained non-functional in Chamba, reflecting a 45 percent improvement.

He added that in the Bharmour region, BSNL has restored five out of ten sites using microwave connectivity, with the remaining expected to be operational soon. Optical Fibre Cable repair is likely to take a week. Reliance Jio services are expected to resume in Bharmour by September 6, while Airtel has already restored 2G services in the area.

In Kullu district, 84.9 percent of Airtel’s 877 sites were functional by September 2, while Reliance Jio had restored 65 percent of its 1,173 sites. BSNL managed to restore about 20 percent of its 391 sites.

In Lahaul-Spiti, restoration progress was better. Airtel had made 96.8 percent of its 63 sites operational, while 84.1 percent of Reliance Jio’s 170 sites were working smoothly by September 2.

Officials said that work is continuing round the clock and full connectivity in all affected areas is expected soon.