No newspapers for Ukhrul and Kamjong folks for more than a month now
TSE sorely missed: Readers
Source: The Sangai Express / Mungchan Zimik
Ukhrul, April 30 2020:
With the enforcement of the Nationwide lockdown since March 25, denizens of Ukhrul & Kamjong districts have completely remained disconnected with no newspaper and to authenticate any news they may have heard.
Social media no doubt come with information, but its authenticity cannot be confirmed.
During a survey conducted by this correspondent, an elderly man, who is a keen reader likened the situation to living like a blindfolded man with no access to newspapers in the morning.
It had been his habit to go through the daily newspaper once he wakes up in the morning.
A 75 year old retired school teacher Chinaochin Ragui, who is a subscriber of The Sangai Express, said that he badly misses reading the paper adding that it has been more than a month since he saw the newspaper.
Earlier it was customary for him and his friends to sit, read the day's newspaper and discuss the news and events carried in The Sangai Express every day.
The TV channels hardly telecast any news or information about the State or have local news and this is boring and adds to the boredom triggered by the lockdown, said the elderly man.
In the absence of newspapers in the morning, "I now use my smart phone to scroll through the news but it is never the same as reading the newspaper," he added.
"Moreover I have poor eyesight and reading it on my phone is difficult," he added.
A young youth who works as a teacher in a private school, LS Ashim said that he feels completely cut off from the rest of the world in the absence of newspapers for more than a month now.
"I now rely on social media, but then again not everything can be taken as true there," he said and added that news portals are other sites he goes to.
He further said that the 2 GB data pack is not sufficient for him in a day during the lockdown period.
Another young man, Thotngashing Chiphang from Tangrei locality expressed gratitude to The Sangai Express for uploading the news on their website from the wee hours of the day, which has enabled him to read the day's content from the morning.
He said information obtained from social media such as WhatsApp or Facebook cannot be authenticated or verified.
According to sources from Ukhrul BSNL office, data consumption has increased tremendously during the lockdown period.
Earlier, before lockdown, the average daily internet data consumption per mobile tower installed at Ukhrul headquarters was roughly (30-40) GB (BSNL).
However during the lockdown, it has doubled.
This was detected after sudden increase and jam in internet traffic bandwidth while monitoring the system.
According to a source, there are around 10,000 BSNL users in Ukhrul while the private service provider Airtel has the highest customer, with triple the number of BSNL customers.
It might be mentioned that private service providers JIO, Vadofone, Airtel including BSNL operate in both Kamjong and Ukhrul districts and they are the only means to connect with the outside world for any information.
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