ASR District Using Dandora to Alert the Public

Visakhapatnam: The district administration of Alluri Sitharama Raju is using primitive means of communication to alert the public on precautions to be taken in view of India-Pakistan border tensions, exposing the district's poor road network and communication system.

The district population stands at 1 million and only 50 per cent of them have mobile phones and access to the internet. Only 60 per cent of the district is under mobile network coverage.

"We had a mock drill last Wednesday during which all the officials were told to pass on information to the mandal and village levels. We will use the staff of 244 ward Sachivalayams (secretariats) to disseminate information to the public,’’ said in-charge collector Abhishek Goud.

Abhishek said anganwadi workers, ANMs (auxiliary nurse midwives), and teachers would be engaged to explain to the villagers the precautions they need to take.

"We may also use a primitive means of communication, Dandora, to orally tell the people,’’ he said, adding that works are on to improve the communication system.

"We (ASR district) will soon have 1,000 cell towers to improve the communication network,’’ he added. These towers are mostly coming up in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas.

In 2023, the central government under the Universal Service Obligation Fund proposed to install over 2,000 cell towers in remote areas of ASR and Parvathipuram districts.

Of this, around 1,800 towers were installed in three revenue and ITDA jurisdictions of Paderu, Chintur and Rampachodavaram.