E-Paper
Cyclone Yaas' impact on telecom minimal, 6 crore bulk SMSes sent to alert people: Govt
Cyclone Yaas, packing winds of up to 130-145 kmph, whiplashed the country's eastern coast on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain, damaging houses and farmlands.
The ministry of communications said on Wednesday that Cyclone Yaas' impact on telecommunications services in worst-affected Odisha and West Bengal was minimal. The ministry credited this to the combined efforts of telecom service providers (TSPs) and infrastructure providers coordinated by the department of telecommunications (DoT).
Also Read: Cyclone Yaas leaves a trail of destruction but strengthens monsoon winds
"The combined efforts have ensured that restoration of the damaged network has commenced and even the minimal outages in the telecom networks will be restored very quickly," the ministry said in release.
Watch: 1 crore people affected by Cyclone Yaas, says Mamata Banerjee
The ministry said that review and restoration meetings were held before the landfall of the cyclone, on Wednesday morning and at 6pm today. The telecom services providers and infrastructure providers participated in the meeting and gave feedback, the ministry added.
It also said that senior officers of state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) were designated at district level who coordinated with district collectors, while senior DoT officers and TSP functionaries coordinated with the state nodal officers at state capitals.
The release further said that the common alert protocol of the DoT was extensively used by state disaster management authorities (SDMAs) in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to disseminate the cyclone alert messages free of cost. "A total of more than 6 crore bulk SMS/messages were sent in local languages alerting local residents. Of these 3.87 crore were in West Bengal, 2.43 crore in Odisha and 36.4 lacs in Andhra Pradesh," the ministry said.
"In addition for the first time Voice Alert Messages were also sent, facilitated by Department of Telecommunications with the help of Telecom Service Providers(TSPs) using Outbound Dialler (OBD) infrastructure. More than 60 lakh subscribers were reached through OBD in local languages (36.5 lacs in West Bengal and 21.5 lacs in Odisha ). TSPs have undertaken this outreach activity free of cost," it further said.
Cyclone Yaas, packing winds of up to 130-145 kmph, whiplashed the country's eastern coast on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain, damaging houses and farmlands.
Thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline, as the cyclone made landfall around 9am near Dhamra port in Odisha, with surging waters swamping the mud-and-thatch houses in the low-lying areas, where a massive evacuation drive has been undertaken to move more than 20 lakh people to safety.
The storm, which had weakened in the afternoon, had left the coastal states on edge, with West Bengal government claiming that at least one crore people have been affected by the calamity thus far.
