Govt looks to ensure Book Fair free from call drops, tower woes

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government is taking elaborate measures to prevent call drops or tower congestion at the 43rd International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF), which kicks off at Salt Lake Central Park on January 30.

"We are using the technology of Cell on Wheels (CoW) at the book fair venue with the assistance of cell phone operators and tower infrastructure providers, to decrease tower congestion and reduce call drops which had been a problem area in last year's book fair," a senior official of the state Information Technology (IT) department said. The Bidhannagar City Police will be providing assistance to the tower company for setting up the infrastructure.

State Additional Chief Secretary Debashis Sen on Thursday evening held a meeting with some major cell phone operators and tower infrastructure providers in this regard, in presence of senior officials from the state Telecom department, Bidhannagar City Police and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.

Sources in the IT department said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who held a coordination meeting on the IKBF at Nabanna on December 31, had urged Sen to look into the matter of cell phone connectivity with top priority.

"It has been decided that a 'drive test' would be conducted by each cell operator and reduce congestion in cell network by installing additional equipment on existing poles," the official added.

The fair that will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister on January 30, will have Guatemala as the theme country. There will be a total of 650 stalls and around 200 stalls for little magazines.

The South 24-Parganas district administration will be also using the same technology for better connectivity during Gangasagar Mela at Gangasagar and Lot 8.

Sen has also spoken with South 24-Parganas District Magistrate Y Ratnakara Rao on sorting out issues of cell towers in Gangasagar.