Kathmandu May 18.

Chhangru and Tinkar in Byas rural municipality adjoining the tri-junction of Nepal, India and China in Darchula has been devoid of means of communications since the past six months. The Nepal Telecom’s CDMA phone tower based in Chhangru was damaged by a heavy snowfall in last December, according to Nepal Telecom’s Darchula chief Krishna Bahadur Gurung. Heavy snowfall continues to cause damages on the telephone tower every year. Though last year NT employees had reached Chhangru to restore the tower via a helicopter, this time this was not possible as the way towards Chhangru has remained closed, according to him. The details of loss on the tower are yet to be reported. More, ”we have problems in transporting materials required for resuming the service up to Chhangru due to ongoing lockdown.” The Byas folks who had descended to Khalanga last December to avoid harsh winter condition have not been able to go back due to lockdown. The NT office ruled out the possibility of restoring the tower to resume the service immediately. Now, the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel are in Chhangru and Tinkar to guard the border area. The CDMA phone tower in Chhangru had its coverage to the nearby Indian settlements as well. Now the security forces are facing problems for communications due to the disruption of phone service. District Police Office, Darchula’s Deputy Superintendent of Police Padam Bahadur Bista said they have established contact with the security force in Chhangru through the VHF technology in absence of NT facility.