Cyclone Amphan: Govt asks telecom operators to ensure functioning of towers

The government has asked telecom service provider to arrange sufficient number of gen-sets to ensure functioning of towers in view of cyclone Amphan.

The Telecommunications Secretary Anshu Prakash at a press meet here on Tuesday said telecom cables, antennas and towers get damaged during a cyclone. Therefore, the telecom companies are advised to interact with telecom operators of affected districts in Odisha and West Bengal.

Prakash said the arrangements have been made to keep people updated in affected districts through free SMS in local language.

He said intra-circle roaming will be operational and the subscribers will be able to latch on to network of whichever telecom operator is available in the event of the services they are using get disrupted due to the extremely severe cyclone.

The Telecommunication secretary has said special focus will be laid on base station controllers and mobile switching centres. He said the broadband internet connections to authorities will be restored on priority for coordination with relief teams. The DoT India Control Room which is operational already will be operational 24/7 from Wednesday.

The Secretary of Ministry Of Power said emergency restoration system has been set up to handle power disruptions in both Odisha and West Bengal. These systems are operational in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Power Grid HQ.

—Pragativadi