BSNL 4G towers cleared for coastal villages in Tirupati constituency
Residents of these villages, plagued by poor mobile network coverage, particularly during emergencies such as cyclones, voiced their concerns during a visit by Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy.
Recognising the critical need for reliable communication, the MP advocated for their inclusion under BSNL's national 4G expansion project aimed at remote and border areas.
Though BSNL approved the proposal in principle, the installation hit a major hurdle as both villages fall under Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZ), requiring clearance from the Forest Department.
In a follow-up review meeting held at the MP's office in Tirupati, BSNL officials highlighted two main bottlenecks: lack of forest department permission and pending electricity connection for the Pudirayadoruvu tower. MP Gurumoorthy intervened by liaising with the concerned power department officials to resolve the electricity issue and formally wrote to Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, seeking necessary clearances.
With the Forest Department finally issuing the required permissions, MP Gurumoorthy confirmed that all hurdles have been cleared. Expressing satisfaction, he said the move would soon enable high-quality mobile network services for the people of Pudirayadoruvu and Irakam Island.
Residents and local leaders have welcomed the development, seeing it as a crucial step toward better connectivity, improved emergency response, and inclusion in the digital mainstream.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
9 hours ago
- The Hindu
Bring digital data of all types of lands, including forests, under single geospatial platform for effective monitoring: Karnataka High Court
The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to create a central integrated geospatial platform combining data of all types of lands, including Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar and digitised data of forests by geo-tagging of all forest lands along with their demarcated boundaries as per historical gazette notifications. Also, the court directed for setting up an inter-departmental land dispute resolution cell (IDLDRC), directly working under the supervision of the Chief Secretary and comprising representatives from departments of revenue, forest, urban planning authorities, to mediate and issue binding inter-departmental orders on the issue of conflicting land records. Automatic conflict alerts The central platform should have an automated system to streamline all land-related applications to ensure that no land-related action is taken without the mandatory, real-time verification against the unified land database. For example, the court said, the Deputy Commissioners or planning authorities, would have to be legally barred from processing any land conversion or layout sanction applications until the automated system performs a check against the integrated forest map. If a parcel of land falls within a forest boundary, the system must automatically reject the application and generate a 'conflict alert' for all the departments concerned, and the office of the sub-registrars should get alert to prevent registration of any sale deed of such land. The online portal for building plan approvals would also be required to be integrated with this system to automatically verify that the land is legally converted and free from disputes, the court said. Devanahalli land Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the series of directions while dealing with a dispute over certain lands situated in Devanahalli taluk of Bengaluru as the Forest Department has issued notice Mohammed Shoaib and other land owners, who have already formed layouts by securing statuary approvals from the Bangalore International Airport Planning Authority. These lands had changed several private individuals' hands between 1930s and 1970s. The court said that State Forest Department has to prepare maps of forests using high-resolution satellite imagery from agencies like the Forest Survey of India and the Indian Space Research Organisation and integrate the maps with ULPIN. Mobile app for public Using data from this central platform, a portal and a mobile app should be created for public to get a comprehensive colour-coded reports on land-use classification, ownership history (mutation records), details of litigation, encumbrances, warning if land falls in the boundary of forest or reserved for public purposes, by entering survey numbers or other identifiable details. 'This transparency mechanism of giving access to public would serve as a powerful deterrent to fraud, enabling citizens to perform their own due diligence and effectively acting as a 'fraud alert' for every future buyer,' the court said. The court directed the government to set up a high-level committee (HLC), comprising officers from Chief Secretary's office, to implement these directions in a phased manner spread over two years.
Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Indian Express
Police resort to lathicharge, fire teargas shells as tribals' protest against power project turns violent, 300 booked
Police allegedly resorted to lathicharge and lobbed 19 teargas shells on protesting tribals, who pelted stones and were obstructing the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) officials for a spot visit of the proposed Pumped Storage Project in Songadh taluka of Tapi district on Tuesday. A police inspector I D Desai and Sub Inspector P M Chaudhary sustained minor injuries in the stone-pelting and they were discharged after treatment at a private hospital on Tuesday, police said. According to sources in GSECL, the PSP project was proposed on the forest department land in various villages including Serula, Old Kulivel, Satkashi, Old Amalpada, Old and Bavli. On Tuesday, the GSECL officials of Tapi district, accompanied by the Forest department officials, district administrative officials and over 40 police personnel, reached Old Kulivel village for a spot visit. 'A large number of people armed with wooden sticks and stones gathered at Old Kulivel village and stopped us from going to the PSP project site. The police official tried to explain to them that it is an official procedure. They (tribals) said they don't want the project in their village. The villagers stopped the officials from moving ahead and gheraoed them. They pelted stones at police, who in turn resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed 19 teargas shells to disperse the mob. The situation turned tense and we left the spot without conducting the spot visit,' said Kirti Chaudhary, GSECL officer at Ukai, in the FIR filed with Songadh police station on Tuesday. 'Earlier on May 19 and May 20, we carried out an awareness meeting at Serula village wherein the villagers and sarpanches from Serula, Old Kulivel, Satkashi, Old Amalpada and Old Bavli were present. We explained to the villagers that the project is coming up on forest land and no private land or public land will be acquired. In the meeting, the locals and sarpanches objected to the project,' the FIR said. Songadh police have registered a case against over 300 people and identified six among them. The accused were booked under BNS section 126 (2) (offence of wrongful restraint), 189 (2,3,4, 5) (Unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons, disturbance of public peace), 190 (criminal liability of individuals who are part of an unlawful assembly), 192 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 221 (offence of obstructing a public servant in the discharge of their public functions). The six accused are identified as Ganesh Vasava, Kishan Vasava, Shailesh Vasava, Ishwar Vasava, Nilesh Vasava and Yusuf Gamit, all residents of different villages in Songadh taluka. Talking to the Indian Express, Tapi district Superintendent of Police Rahul Patel said police detained a few protesters to control the situation and that they were freed later. 'We have got the videos of the incident, and we have identified some of the leaders who incited the tribals. These leaders and those who pelted stones at the police will be arrested soon,' Patel said. Former Panchayat president and Congress leader Yusuf Gamit, named as one of the accused, said, 'The local tribals are against this project. The sarpanch and tribal leader don't want this project in their village. We will not allow this project to take place. Police had first pushed the tribal leaders, and the tribals got angered and pelted stones at them.' GSECL sources said that the PSP is an off-stream closed-loop project with an installed capacity of 300 MW/1854 MW. The project involves construction of upper and lower reservoirs, designed with gross storage capacities of 5.656 MCM (Million Cubic Meter) and 6.792 MCM, respectively. The upper reservoir will be 57 meters high and the lower reservoir 44 meters.
Hans India
2 days ago
- Hans India
State to recruit 540 forest Guards, equal compensation for wildlife victims: Khandre
Bengaluru: To address staff shortages in the Forest Department, the government has already appointed 310 forest watchers and is now in the process of recruiting 540 forest guards, announced Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Eshwar B Khandre in the Legislative Council. Responding to a question by MLC S. Keshava Prasad, the minister said that families of those who die due to wildlife attacks—such as elephant or tiger encounters—currently receive a compensation of ₹20 lakh. Victims of snakebite deaths are provided with ₹2 lakh compensation through the Agriculture Department. Khandre noted that Karnataka has witnessed a rise in its wildlife population, leading to more human-wildlife conflicts. To address this, the government has approved a dedicated elephant task force for Dakshina Kannada district, which will be officially notified in two to three days. The 32-member force will be tasked with driving elephants back into forests as well as assisting in capturing rogue elephants. For elephant corridor and habitat conservation, the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). A team led by Prof. R. Sukumar has already begun a detailed study. Expressing sorrow over the recent poisoning of a tigress and her four cubs at the Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, the minister confirmed that action has been initiated under the Wildlife Protection Act against those responsible. A deputy range forest officer and other officials have been suspended for failing to ensure timely payment of outsourced frontline staff, and an inquiry is ongoing. On tackling elephant-human conflicts, Khandre said the government has prioritized the construction of railway barricades and assured that concerns of people in Ramanagara district would be addressed. Proposals for new elephant camps are also under consideration. He further said the government is aware of the growing menace of monkeys damaging crops and announced that instructions will be issued to capture them.
