Connecting India, minus Kumbh?

ALLAHABAD: If you think that you will stay connected with your family members and friends during your stay at the Kumbh Mela site, think again. Call dropping, cross connection and signal failure seem to have harassing the visitors and Kalpwas (those who stay on the ghats) in the Kumbh Mela. Although cellphone signals are better in the area housing administrative camps, once people reach the main Mela area, call drops and signal failure start troubling virtually every mobile user. "Before coming to Mela for Kalpwas, we had packed everything that we would need during the month-long stay. But I started facing problems, such as call dropping and signal failure," said Kashi Mishra, from village Khukundu of Deoria. "If a person thinks that having a mobile at the Mela area will keep you connected with your family members, you are mistaken. After entering the main Mela area, call drop and cross connections start troubling you," said Kalpnath, who has come from Jaunpur. The mobile signal would just vanish with the breeze, at one time the mobile will show full signal, the next second you would not be able to make any call, he added. "Getting full signal doesn't mean that you are fortunate. Your mobile will show name of your friend calling you and on picking some unknown person would be speaking to you," said Atul, who had come to drop his grandfather at Sangam.

However, Arun Chaubey, general manager (mobile services/development & planning of BSNL) Lucknow, said: "The question of loss of signal does not arise as we've installed 35 mobile towers at the Mela area. Also, the number of visitors who took dip on Makar Sankranti Day - 82 lakh - utilised only 25%-30% of our capacity. We have established eight telegraph centres which have facility of faxing and broadband connectivity and a media centre. At almost 10 places in the Mela area, we have set up kiosks to sell SIM cards and recharge coupons."

Senior GM BSNL, Kumbh, A K Srivastava, said, "As compared to 2007 Ardh Kumbh, in which 10-11 towers were used, this time 35 towers are being used."

The problem of call drop is making a hole in the pockets of common man as most of those coming to the Mela are from rural areas having prepaid connections. "It is not only the poor signal that is troubling us, but the rate of call drop is resulting into monetary loss as well," said Anand Pandey of Ballia.