As many as 300 mobile towers will be coming up in the tribal areas of Alluri Sitharama Raju district. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will be virtually inaugurating them to provide connectivity in the 11 mandals of the Paderu Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) region on January 25.
During the year 2022, as part of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), a State and a Central-funded project, which aims at providing mobile connectivity to interior tribal areas, there was a proposal and sanction of 1,500 mobile towers to the ASR district. During June last year, the State Government had started installing 100 mobile towers. Now, 300 more towers of Jio and Airtel will be coming up in Paderu, Araku, Pedabayalu, Dumbriguda, Hukumpeta, Chintapalli, Munchingputtu, G. Madugula, G.K Veedhi, Koyyuru and Ananthagiri mandals.
So far, ASR district has around 200 mobile towers, of which ITDA Paderu region is said to have around 150 of them. With the addition of these new towers, the total will be around 500 in the district.
“In Andhra Pradesh, Paderu region lacks mobile connectivity, when compared to Rampachodavaram, Parvathipuram and other tribal areas. This is a significant development which will improve connectivity and resolve issues in the fields of health, education, security and many aspects in the tribal region,” said Integrated Tribal Development Agency Project Officer V. Abhishek.
Mr. Abhishek said that network connectivity has been playing a huge role in day-to-day lives of people. Students may need to attend online classes, government employees may use apps for their work, elderly persons may receive pension, ration and even in need of some medical emergency, mobile connectivity is a necessity, he said. Mr. Abhishek said that the mobile towers which are going to be inaugurated on January 25, will put an end to all these problems.
“In security point of view, as part of Mission Connect Paderu, the State Government has sanctioned many roads connecting interior areas. With the help of the Centre, a National Highway is coming up in the Agency areas. Now, the government is providing network connectivity to interior areas. Providing accessibility will definitely bring down Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in this region,” he said.
Mr. Jagan will virtually attend inaugural of mobile towers programme at two villages – Lingaguda (Dumbriguda mandal) and Edulapalem (Paderu mandal). In this regard, the authorities are making arrangements. During the programme, the Chief Minister will also interact with the tribals.
