SANGUEM: Verlem villagers, especially college and high school students, face difficulties due to the lack of a reliable mobile network, as they are compelled to trek 2-3 kilometres to a nearby hill to get internet connectivity, even at night, to complete their assignments and studies, despite the risk of animal attacks.
Swapnesh, a college student, seen with school children on the hill, said, “We have to come here because we do not get network in the village. We have to come up two to three kilometres. The area is not safe, since it is forested. Even during Covid pandemic, students used to come here and study. We had even built a shelter here to sit and do our work. During the rains we take shelter under umbrellas.”
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Twelve-year-old student Deepti Devidas Gaonkar said, “If we are given an assignment, we have to come here to get network connectivity. If someone is not well in the village, we have to come here to make a phone call. We feel frustrated. If there is an urgent assignment, we have to come here even at night, with someone.”
She said, “We appeal to the government to provide us with a mobile tower.”
In the absence of a mobile tower in the village, the locals struggle to make phone calls, including emergency calls for medical attention.
The situation is critical, in case anyone in Verlem village gets sick, and is in need of medical attention, calling 108 (ambulance service) is next to impossible from the village. So again, one has to trudge another three kilometres to make a call to the ambulance service.
The lack of network coverage has also affected pregnant women, who often leave the village to stay with their relatives in areas with better connectivity to ensure timely access to healthcare.
Rudresh Gaonkar, a college student recounted, “In case of pregnancies, all villagers don’t have cars, so we have to call an ambulance. But we have to walk around 3 km to get connectivity to contact an ambulance. As college youth, we find it difficult to complete our studies without the internet. The government should urgently install a tower in our village.”
The promise of installing a mobile tower in the village is long pending and no public representative has bothered to address it.
