BSNL plans direct link between Tamil Nadu, Mannar

Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 19:30 IST
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CHENNAI: India's telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will set up an 80-metre-high tower in Tamil Nadu for a direct phone link with northern Sri Lanka. The communication tower will come up on Rameswaram island, 600 km south of here, and help the people there make calls directly to the Mannar region of Sri Lanka. The island of Sri Lanka is separated from the Indian mainland by the Gulf of Mannar and, at one point, only a 24-km-stretch of water separates the two countries. BSNL is exploring the possibility of providing a direct communication link between Tamil-dominated Mannar in the north of Sri Lanka and Rameswaram. The tower will provide direct telephone and mobile phone links between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka's northern peninsula before December, BSNL sources said here. The direct telephone link to the Mannar region in Sri Lanka was discontinued in 1983 when Tamil rebels blew up the communication tower at Talaimannar. Since then Mannar has been connected indirectly to Tamil Nadu via Tiruchirapalli, 300 km north of Rameswaram. With rapid development in the region, people of this southern district now need direct facilities and communication lines, BSNL says. Police have, however, cautioned that communication lines can be misused by smugglers, LTTE rebels and other groups.
Source: IANS
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