The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A boon to Gulf expatriates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A boon to Gulf expatriates

By Ravi Reddy

MANALA (NIZAMABAD DT.), APRIL 22. Till three months ago, residents of this highly naxal-affected village in Kammarpalli mandal tucked away on the Nizamabad-Karimnagar district border, had to travel 40 km to keep in touch with their relatives abroad as the village lacked telecommunication facilities.

Till two years ago, the very thought of cellular phones or telephone facility here was a dream as the PW which had a virtual sway for more than a decade, declared a blanket ban on use of telephones or cellular services. Once the movement declined, the demand for a telephone exchange grew but authorities ignored the plea. Despite the village being situated in Nizamabad district, locals prefer to visit the nearest mandal headquarters in Karimnagar for their day-to-day needs.

Thanks to an enterprising Gulf expatriate, who on a brief visit to this village, about 110 km from Nizamabad district headquarters, brought a cellular telephone equipment with him and tried to make calls. The signals were available but not strong enough to make or receive calls. The man erected an antenna on top of his house and to his surprise, found the signals from Airtel and BSNL were very clear. This attempt brought a revolutionary change and solved the telecommunication woes of the entire village.

The successful experiment saw unemployed youth hit upon the idea to operate mobile points in the village itself. Six mobile points sprang up in no time and families of expatriates lined up outside this centres.

An RMP doctor, Bhikshapati, explained the woes of villagers till the mobile points came into existence. He said: "The plight of families of those working in Muscat and Dubai was horrible as Friday approached. They used to rush to Korutla town and wait for hours just to hear the voice of their near and dear ones'', he said adding that "over 150 families waited in Korutla on this day.''

Ravi Naik, a student of Sarpanch tanda said: "On several occasions, women had to spend tense moments as the calls never came and the last bus to the village left the bus station.''

A mobile point owner, Puppala Jalandhar, told The Hindu that the availability of cell phone had eased the hardships of villagers, particularly women. "On Friday, expatriates call us and make a request to summon their family members,'' he said adding that "a boy rushes to their house to pass on the message.'' Families rush back to attend the call in few minutes. "For this service, we charge Rs. 10 per call,'' he said adding that "villagers did not mind paying the amount as the trouble of travelling long distance and waiting for the call was avoided.''

During interaction, the owners of these points said they divided the number of calls coming from abroad among themselves. "On an average, each mobile point gets 30 calls from Gulf countries on Friday, which fetches us decent service charge,'' said a youth manning a mobile point. "On other days, we make around Rs. 300 through cellular services as the charge is Rs. 6 per minute call,'' he said adding that "there are at least 50 mobile phones used by villagers when they go out of Manala.'' Mobile point operators purchase pre-paid cards to run the service. The villagers are demanding authorities to start Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) phone services.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh