Belthangady: Any government project tastes success when people participate in it enthusiastically. In a recent development, the people from Pilya and Nalkuru of Belthangady taluk, who were dejected by the fact that the telephone lines remained kaput most of the time and even mobile network and broadband connectivity was available only for namesake, did their bit so that the village could enjoy best of communication facilities.
One man called Praveenchandra Mehendale, united the people and worked to march the villages towards digital inclusion.
Pilya and Soolabettu are in Aladangadi GP limits. Over the last few years, the BSNL had provided phone connectivity to many houses in Soolabettu. But, when Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana took off here five year ago, the phone cables laid on the road sides were damaged. Though the BSNL had set right the situation, the people of region faced lot of disturbance in the phone lines. In such a situation high-speed internet connectivity was a distant dream.
When the villages were deprived of both landline connection as well as clear mobile network, Praveenchandra Mehendale, took the lead. He united the people and made sure a three-km long trench was laid on the road side and pressurised the BSNL to lay new lines.
Led by Praveenchandra, a total of 15 persons from Soolabettu pooled n Rs 48,000 and hired a JCB to make the trench. Due to the interest of the locals, the BSNL has now laid new lines from Aladangadi to Soolabettu.
With this not only is the phone line clear, even the internet speed has improved.
