Kolkata:
The remote areas in Junglemahal - the forested stretches of West Bengal's Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts - will get satellite phone terminals for the first time during Lok Sabha elections, an Election Commission official said today.
Called the 'Digital Satellite Phone Terminal', as many as 10 satellite phone service hubs will be set up as part of this Information Technology (IT) intervention in Junglemahal, thereby providing connectivity between the Commission's office in Kolkata and the officials in the forested areas.
"As part of this IT intervention, 10 satellite phone terminals will be set up in shadow zones (areas out of mobile network coverage). This is for the first time that satellite phones are being used there," chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta told reporters.
The Lok Sabha constituencies in Junglemahal will go to polls on May 7.
(See poll schedule)This initiative is in addition to the police and forest department's wireless connections that are normally deployed.
Meanwhile, both state and central security forces have arrived for the first phase of the polling in the state, beginning on April 17.
(Elections: full coverage)Polling for four seats - Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar - in the northern part of the state would be held on that date.