The Great Call from China

Chinese mobile towers on the border are burning holes into the pockets of Indian soldiers deployed at forward bases! 

 

Most of the times when Indian soldiers at Nathu La in Sikkim dial homes their calls are routed through the Chinese mobile towers near the border making it an international call. And it happens very often as the Indian side does not have a mobile tower.

“It is a peculiar situation whenever we try calling home from Nathu La, the mobile catches signals from the nearby Chinese towers and our number goes for international roaming. Many a times we end up paying as much as Rs.130 for one call,” said a soldier ruing about the problem.

Even as the Indian soldiers’ attitude in this treacherous terrain is painted on the mountains with words like “Hum hi Jitenge! (Only we will win)”, what seems to be failing them is the lack of infrastructure development including the lack of telecom structures in the area, which was once part of the Silk Route.

The government has been aware of the problem in telecom connectivity but there has been no development on this front. Most of the telecom players in private sector have been concentrated in Sikkim’s capital Gangtok and nearby areas. The public-sector BSNL that is the major service provider near Nathu La has not been able to procure towers and telephone exchanges to be deployed in the region.

“Satellite phones are available in the units but their numbers are not proportionate with the strength of the troops,” an official added.

Earlier this year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had brought to light this poor connectivity and said that the jawans posted at Nathula were even forced to borrow handsets from their Chinese counterparts on the other side of the fence to stay in touch with their families.

At Nathu La only a dilapidated concertina wire serve as demarcation of border between the two countries that fought a brief but bloody war in 1962. On September 7, 1967, Chinese troops had opened fire on Indian troops at Nathu La as they were putting up the concertina wires, leading to a six-day border skirmish that saw an exchange of artillery fire.