The Indian Express
Deeptiman Tiwary
October 21, 2015
Rijiju has written to the DoT and the Ministry of Defence that the local villagers, and even the soldiers posted there, use Nepal SIM cards, as Indian telecom services are not available in the region.
Gunji village in Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand.
After his two-day visit to areas of Uttarakhand on the Indo-Nepal and Sino-Indian borders, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Kiren Rijiju has raised a peculiar security concern. Rijiju has written to the Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Defence that the local villagers, and even the soldiers posted there, use Nepal SIM cards, as Indian telecom services are not available in the region. This means all communication in the area can easily be tapped by Nepal or even China, the MoS has pointed out.
Rijiju visited Gunji, Kalapani and Nabhidang posts near the Indo-Nepal and Sino-Indian borders in Uttarakhand on Sunday and Monday. The first minister from the Centre to visit these areas, Rijiju said he was surprised to find scores of villages near the border deprived of even basic amenities.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Rijiju said, “It’s a shame that in 68 years of independence, we have not been able to provide over 20,000 villagers in this region with roads, electricity and telecommunication. People, including our jawans, use SIM cards bought from Nepal as Indian telecom signals do not reach here.
There is no tower in the entire region.” Confirming that he had written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the MoD, and sent a note to Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, he said, “We talk of securing the border, but can’t provide basic amenities.
Our soldiers using Nepal SIM cards is a security risk.” According to the minister, after Pungla, a small village near Dharchula in Uttarakhand, there are no motorable roads up north till the Sino-Indian border.
Rijiju himself had to trek for eight hours from Kalapani to Nabhidang to meet soldiers guarding the borders. “Villagers in this region walk for five days to reach a road. After Dharchula, only Nepal SIM cards work,” Rijiju told The Indian Express.
Notably, the route the minister took to reach Nabhidang is the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra trail. Fifteen kilometres after Dharchula, travellers begin climbing on foot to reach their destination.
