In today’s lifestyle, without a mobile phone, every work comes to a halt. If there is no mobile even for a while, it is as if the phone stops. Be it job, business, entertainment or studies, mobile is needed everywhere. Now even for shopping, mobile is necessary. In such a situation, if you do not have a mobile or there is no mobile network, then all your work will be difficult. But you will be surprised to know that there are such villages in Dungarpur district situated on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat, where there is no mobile network, leave alone 5G.
Story of Charwada and Balwaniya village
This story is of Char Wada and Balwaniya village, where the rural population living within a radius of 7 kilometers is still living their lives without network. Talking about these villages, they are part of Dungarpur district. Coming to this village with a population of about 5 thousand, all the claims of Digital India fail. The people living here have phones, but there is no network. Whenever a person has to talk to someone on the phone, he climbs high mountains and moves the phone here and there in search of a network. Even if you get the network with great difficulty, there is no guarantee that it will disappear while you are talking.
Take help of mountains to distribute ration
Even a ration dealer has to climb a high mountain in search of mobile network. Only then can the biometric process be done in the pose machine. In such a situation, the queues for ration are not at the dealer center but on the mountain. The pain of the villagers does not end here. In case someone falls ill or there is an accident, it has become the fate of the people here to climb high mountains and go through the same process even to inform the police and ambulance. In such a situation, it is clear that whether it is the 104 and 108 ambulance facility of the health department or the arrangement of 100 or 112 dial of the police, all the services prove to be a distant dream for the people here.
There is not a single e-Mitra center in both the villages.
During the Corona period, when children across the country were being educated through mobile phones, even then the lack of mobile network in this area was raising questions on the future of the children. Even today, if there is a power failure, complaining online is a big challenge. In such a situation, it cannot be imagined how difficult it will be to restore power supply. Due to lack of mobile network in the village, not a single e-Mitra center operates. In such a situation, it is also clear that to avail hundreds of e-Mitra based services, people have to go 15 kilometers away to Gezi or Karawada village, which is a difficult distance.
It is not that the villagers did not raise their voice. Raised voice, raised it again and again. Every time their demand also became an election issue. But after the elections are over, no public representative returns unless he wants to ask for votes next time. The people of this village always feel cheated by voting. Now it has to be seen whether the voice of the population living in this 7 kilometer area gets included in the noise of Digital India or remains drowned in it.
Sushant Pareek’s report from Dungarpur
