A day after, 30,000 phones on blink

BHOPAL: It will take another two days for mobile service to get normal and three days to fully restore the internet connectivity. The telephone and internet connectivity went haywire on Friday after a major fire broke out in the BSNL exchange in Royal Market area. At least 30,000 phones went out of order and 9,000 internet connections were down in Bhopal on Saturday. BSNL engineers, who were called from other offices, including Hoshangabad and Khandwa for assistance, have been pressed into service to finish repair work.
BSNL GM Mahesh Shukla claimed that internet services would be resolved in next three days. For landline connections, particularly around 10,000 connections in the old city, it will take more than a month’s time to get operational.
“Overloading” of machines is being seen as the reason for short-circuit in cables that spread the fire engulfing the top two floors of the four-storeyed building of the exchange in busy Royal market area. Though the loss is worth several crores, the exact amount would be ascertained later,” Shukla said.
Services are expected to get normal within a day or two. “Separate responsibilities have been entrusted with officials for restoring the mobile, landline and internet connections.
The officials also said that till the repair work is continuing at the city exchange, “its load is being transferred to other exchange and mobile towers to restore the services.” The BSNL CGM will address the media on Sunday to present the exact picture, the officials added.
In the fire that began in wee hours of Friday, around 16 persons, including the BMC’s firemen and BSNL employees were hospitalized. Fire tenders from the CISF and army also helped douse the fire.