Tura, May 24: Several thousand mobile subscribers and hundreds of internet users of BSNL in Garo Hills are facing immense difficulties because of poor network service provided by the government backed company.

First, the entire mobile service in Garo Hills was cut off for 72 hours last week due to a series of faults in the network communication and lack of preparedness by the company maintenance teams made the situation worse.

Yesterday, on Monday, the entire network of BSNL again collapsed from around 3 PM and could not be restored for up to 19 long hours.

The reason was the delay of the maintenance teams from reaching the damaged site between Jengjal and Bajengdoba because the BSNL requisitioned vehicle was allegedly not moving due to poor condition and also because the contract had not been renewed. The repair of the fiber optic cable was to have been completed in a matter of a few hours but the movement delay stretched the disruption to over half a day. Network was restored only at 10 AM on Tuesday.

Hundreds of subscribers who use BSNL could not make calls, log into the internet or do any transactions for almost an entire day because of this problem.

One alternative line via Tikrikilla-Phulbari- Garobadha ring could not be used because it has been down for several days already and the reason cited was lack of power supply.

In fact, even the 72 hour long disruption last week was attributed mainly because of power disruption. The Jengjal link was operating only via a generator as the damaged power transformer was not restored.

Then the Bajengdoba transformer was not functioning for mechanical and legal reasons and the BSNL generator failed to start even after diesel was filled due to lack of maintenance. It was only after a mechanic was brought from Assam that the machine was made functioning, after an entire day of further delay.

Angry subscribers are demanding answers because this problem is not an isolated one but something that has become a common issue, almost every month, and subscribers are severely affected time and again because the BSNL officials fail to learn from past mistakes.