Residents of Harapanahalli village climb trees, rooftops to get mobile phone network

DAVANAGERE: Vala thanda, a village in Harapanahalli taluk of Vijayanagar district, with a population of about 1,500, lacks basic facilities including mobile phone network. The villagers say they feel like they are living deep inside the Amazon forests.

Vala thanda is home to mainly labourers and even lacks bus connectivity. Villagers climb hills, trees or rooftops of houses and other buildings if they have to speak to someone on the mobile phone. If schools switch to online mode, the parents take their children atop a hill for better internet connectivity.

In case of medical emergencies, people have to go 3-4 km from the village where there is mobile connectivity to call for an ambulance. The villagers say politicians approach them during elections and promise better mobile connectivity, but later forget about it.

The villagers rue that even if there is a death in any household, their relatives come to know of it only after the last rites have been conducted. The youth are also finding it difficult to apply online for jobs or for competitive exam due to poor connectivity. Several families have even shifted out of the village, they pointed out.