Out of 32 Village Development Committees (VDCs), 19 VDCs of Tehrathum district were using telephone facility till recently. Wireless service, which started here for the first time in 1964, has 228 telephone lines running at present.

Of late, the Maoists have been targetting telephone lines by blasting them, as a result majority of the people living in the district have been deprived of telephone facility.

Till now, the Maoists have destroyed the VHF lines running at Okhre, Panchkanya and Fakchamara. As a result, communication from local areas to district headquarters has been stopped completely.

Besides, four other telephone lines being started by the Marts system, have also been stopped. Due to the disconnection of telephone lines, the local people are facing great inconvenience. The telephone lines being started through UHF line at the VDCs like Jaljale, Simle, Thoklung and Khyamlung are also reported to have been stopped.

Now the people here are deprived of regular communication like relaying some important information to their relatives and friends or even calling an ambulance, says Hikmat Basnet, vice-chairman of Okhre VDC.

When the government itself does not have sufficient telephone lines for distribution, the existing lines in the district have continuously become the target of Maoists is not only depriving the locals from telephone facility but also leading the country hundred times backwards.