MANGALURU: AN MLA and some BSNL employees helped restore mobile connectivity at some critical places in the flood-hit Dakshina Kannada district by paying from their pockets to run generators and keep the towers working. Balachandra Bhat, DGM (Network) Mangaluru, said around 400 BSNL towers in the district were not working due to power breakdown when the floods and landslides ravaged parts of Belthangady, Puttur and Sullia.
Some of them were in remote villages where private players have no presence and hence restoring it immediately was essential to ensure smooth rescue works. But it was difficult to do so as the state-owned telecommunications firm had stopped funding for diesel to keep the mobile towers running when there was power breakdown. It was then that Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja chipped in to pay Rs 2.5 lakh from his pocket for the fuel to run the towers. Some BSNL employees also came forward to pay for diesel in Sullia, Puttur and other places despite not receiving regular salary due to crisis in the telecommunications company. Bhat confirmed that their employees too have helped fuel the generators.