Poor network forces tribal workers to walk 12 km for e-attendance in ASR district

Visakhapatnam: Tribal workers of Bonguja hamlet in Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district are forced to walk long distances daily to access a mobile signal for app-based face recognition attendance under the employment guarantee scheme (VB-G RAM G). The village, located in Ananthagiri mandal, has 120 job cards.Locals, Seedari David, P. Baburao, Puttaboyina Ganganna, and S. Swami said that the nearest mobile tower is located at Puttugannavaram, around 12 km away. "As a result, about 450 labourers are compelled to walk to the tower area, complete face authentication, and then return to their village for work. Even when the actual employment work lasts about five hours, nearly four additional hours are spent just for the attendance process," they said."The hilltop region had better mobile coverage until a few years ago. However, after connectivity shifted to P. Gangavaram, the village has been left without a reliable signal. Even pension beneficiaries now have to travel long distances to access network coverage. Bonguja village already has a school, an Anganwadi centre, and a GCC depot, but lacks basic digital connectivity. We demand that the government either install a mobile tower in the village or exempt us from face-recognition attendance requirements," they added.