In a bid to make mobile connectivity available in remote and Naxal hit areas which so far remained untouched by the mobile companies, a total of 782 Solar Powered Mobile Towers are being raised in Jharkhand that will completely run on solar energy to avoid interruptions of electricity supply. Officials claimed that 750 towers have already been installed across the State by Vihaan Networks limited, working with BSNl.
“We have already completed installation of 750 solar mobile towers while the rest will be installed by August 30 this year. Maximum of 122 towers was installed in West Singhbhum, while four towers were installed in Garhwa district of Palamu,” said SDE (Radio Frequency Planning) Pankaj Das of BSNl.
For the first time in Jharkhand, solar power is extensively being used to run 2,200 mobile towers to be set up in nine Naxal-affected districts of India including Jharkhand, said officials.
These mobile towers will be operated without any support from electricity or generators. This is for the first time in India that green energy will be used so extensively to run such a large number of telecom towers, said Das.
“As there is a problem of electricity supply in the remote areas and it is not feasible to run these towers on diesel, the State Government is providing free land and security to equip these areas with mobile network,” said the SDE. Diesel-run generator sets create a lot of pollution in addition to the problem of regular supply of fuel, he added.
The technology developed indigenously by an Indian vendor will feed the towers with solar power to function normally in addition to charging the battery simultaneously.
“Towers here are same but the equipments are different. It is completely a green project where no electricity or generators are used,” said the official. In spite of being dumped in a make shift room near the tower, all equipments here, are fitted on the tower itself, posing minimum threat of pilferage of these equipments,” he said.
It also prevents the site from getting inoperative ensuring availability of regular mobile network even in the distant locations of the State.
“With these mobile towers, infrastructure will be made available to these remote areas following which any big project like bank, post office, gas agency etc. could be started in one go,” said an officials of Vihaan Networks limited.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been pushing for installation of mobile towers in Naxal-hit areas since 2010 as the absence of mobile services has made it tough for security forces to operate and get timely help in critical situations leading to loss of lives in some incidents.
The lack of telecom infrastructure in left wing extremism affected states - Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh - severely compromises the position of the security forces vis-a-vis the Maoist ultras.
Most of these towers are being set up in secured locations like police stations, camps of security forces or as identified by the BSNl itself, so that the extremists cannot target them for destruction.
looking at the success rate of these solar powered mobile towers in Jharkhand, the State Government has sent a proposal to the center to sanction 900 more such towers in the state.