TURA, June 4: The lack telecommunication services whether wired or wireless continues to plague many villages in Garo Hills leaving people with many challenges especially, at a time, when the Covid-19 pandemic is being felt everywhere.
Some of these villages include, Awegre, Anchenggre, Rongchanggre, Pasimgre and Dana Adugre all under Chokpot Block in South Garo Hills where any kind of telecommunication service is yet to be available as none of the network service providers have begun operating in the areas. Interestingly, these villages are only about 20 kilometres away from Tura in West Garo Hills.
The plight of the people from these villages was on Friday brought to the attention of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma by the Secretary of the Awegre Development Committee, Chegan N Marak. Marak, in his memorandum submitted through West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh urged the Chief Minister to personally look into the matter.
“With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lack of communication facilities has been highlighted and people are now facing many challenges that were earlier not there. Besides depriving the people of knowledge and information, we are unable to have access to any assistance provided by the government or even register ourselves for Covid vaccination,” Marak said.
According to Marak, the lack of the facility is also affecting the student community as they are unable to attend online classes, communicate or interact with their teachers and institutions. He added that while much progress has been made towards digitalization in other areas, these areas continue to be greatly disadvantaged due to the lack of it.
Pointing out that the availability of proper network and communication service would greatly boost economy, bring overall development, up-grade lives of people as well as enable people to stay more connected to the administration, Marak urged the Chief Minister’s intervention in the matter.
“Network and communication service is something which is desperately required in these villages. We hope that you will look into the genuine appeal of the people,” Marak added, while addressing the CM.