Village enters virtual world with free Wi-Fi

NEW DELHI: A resident of

Kadipur

village in northwest Delhi, 14-year-old Kunal Kaushik was often seen pedalling his way to the neighbouring

Nathupura

to access the internet at a cybercafe. Till Monday, this was his only option for reading his study material online.

But things have changed for better. For Kunal and many other schoolchildren, the daily ordeal to travel several kilometres to access the net is over with Kadipur becoming a “free Wi-Fi” village.

The service was launched by local councillor Urmila Rana on Monday. Mridul Foundation, an NGO, had taken an initiative to provide Kadipur with better net connectivity. Rana said children of this village would now be able to access educational stuff online and this was a sign of progress.

“I had promised the people that we will make the village a Free

Wi-Fi

zone in six months. Children can now get better access to education as they can view study tutorials online or watch educational videos. Even the housewives and working women can use these facilities to connect to the outside world,” Rana told TOI. She claims Kadipur is the first village in Delhi to have such a facility.

Not only Kadipur, adjoining places like Keshav Nagar, Ibrahimpur, Nangli Poona, Sushant Vihar, Mukhmelpur and Nathupura can also access Wi-Fi as wireless routers have been attached to electricity poles in these areas. People can connect to their Wi-Fi devices without entering a password.

“This will benefit the

students

immensely. Most families here cannot afford a Wi-Fi system. My children often asked for internet access but I was unable to buy the device as it was very expensive by our standard,” said Ramkaran.

Manish Rana, another villager, said that more housewives would now start using smartphones because of the

free

Wi-Fi. “Now, more people will smartphones and use WhatsApp and Facebook,” he added.

While most villagers welcome this initiative, there are others who feel that the money could have been spent on improving the sanitation and roads of the village.

“There is a perennial shortage of water in the village and the waste is never picked up on time. Even the sewers overflow when it rains, making this place a breeding ground for dengue-causing mosquitoes. Money should have been spent to solve these problems,” said Rajesh Kumar, a resident.