Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005 |
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Aarti Dhar
WORK RECOGNISED: Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communications, presenting the V.D. Gupta Memorial Telecom Technology Award to R. Sivagami, Junior Telecom Officer, Andaman, at a function in New Delhi on Tuesday. _ PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
NEW DELHI: It was a family get-together of sorts for R. Sivagami, a junior telecom officer now posted in Port Blair. She was here to receive the V.D. Gupta Memorial Telecom Technology Award. Her daughter J. Rahini had come from Lucknow and husband P. Jeyapaul from Port Blair to celebrate the occasion. "I am proud of my wife and her work," Mr. Jeyapaul said as Rahini presented a rose to her mother. Ms. Sivagami was posted at the Campbell Bay Telephone Exchange of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the worst affected island of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands when the tsunami hit the region last December. While many senior officers and women colleagues moved out, Ms. Sivagami stayed put until after communication was restored on the island. "My fear for life seemed extraneous when I saw the devastation people suffered as I stepped out of my house on the morning of December 26, 2004," Ms. Sivagami told The Hindu here on Tuesday. "Seeing people's helplessness, I decided not to leave the place until after telecom services were restored."
No food to eat, no home to stay
The three telephone exchanges on the island were washed away. Neither police wireless nor Army signal services were functional. The local population had no contact with the outside world, had nothing to eat and no home to stay. "My staff were willing to stay back provided they had something to eat. They asked me to arrange for at least one meal. For four days, we were totally marooned, surviving just on rice — whenever available," recalled Ms. Sivagami. She managed to establish contact from her satellite centre with the one in Port Blair the following day. That helped to establish contact with the Lt. Governor and her teacher-husband in Port Blair. Help first came on December 31 when an Air Force aircraft, equipped with basic equipment, landed on the island and telecommunication services were restored. It rescued several women and BSNL staff members but Ms. Sivagami decided to stay back. For others, there was no post office, no bank or even the forest office. "Within 10 days, 75 telephone lines in the BSNL exchange became functional and by January-end, 300 lines were working. Even now the exchange is not functioning to its full capacity since cable for a length of 30 km has been completely washed away," Ms. Sivagami said as she recounted her trauma at Campbell Bay. She is now back in Port Blair, after completing her one-year tenure at Campbell Bay. Her daughter is studying dental medicine in Lucknow, while her son is a postgraduate Biotechnology student.
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