• Only a few communication towers have been set up in Dunai

Kathmandu, October 6

As many as four rural municipalities of Dolpa district still lack telecommunication services.

Orgyan Dorje Gurung, a local of Shey Phoksundo, said in four rural municipalities — of the district namely Shey Phoksundo, Dolpo Buddha, Kaike and Chharka — lack communication services.

“Few communication towers have been set up in Dunai, the district headquarters, but they too have problems,” said Gurung, adding, “There are nearly thousand households in each rural municipality yet there is no any telecommunication service.” “We complained about the problem to the Nepal Telecommunication office at district headquarters and ‘Hello Sarkar’ but in vain,” said Om Rokka, member of Civil Society Dolpa.

He informed that some of the places of the district are given telecommunication service through VSAT but it also has technical problems. “Lack of telephone service has pushed us further back as we lack transportation facility in the district. Life in the district is very difficult because of its geographical conditions and unavailability of telecommunication services has given more trouble to the district folks,” he added

“Though Shey Phoksundo is a tourist area, it still lacks communication services,” said Ram Chandra Rokka, chair person of Kaike rural municipality. It takes two to five days to travel from District Headquarters to Upper Dolpa. Tourists complain about the lack of services as there is no electricity, no transportation and telecommunication services.”

Civil Society Dolpa has submitted a memorandum to Nepal Telecom and the Ministry of Information and Communication. “We demanded the availability of the technology and devices for the service as the villagers were ready to pay transport fare to take the devices, tower to upper Dolpa,” said Rokka.

Pratibha Baidhya, information officer at Nepal Telecom, said telecommunication services were not available in geographically difficult areas due to some technical issues.

“Nepal Telecom has been providing telecommunication services through satellite in the rural areas,” she said, adding that Nepal Telecom had started research for the service in the rural areas of Dolpa.