Authorities of the Canara PU College are concerned over the smooth conduct of the forthcoming examinations for II year PU from March 11. This is because mobile phones of the college staff, including the one of the principal, were not working since Saturday, following activation of mobile jammers at the adjoining Mangaluru District Prison.

As many as five mobile phone jammers have been installed to prevent misuse of mobile phones by undertrial prisoners lodged in it. The Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. commissioned the mobile phone jammers two days ago.

“For the past two days, none of our mobile phones are working on the college premises,” said Prabha Kamath, principal of the Canara PU College. Her only worry was the prospects of conducting the PU exams. “We receive instructions on the mobile phones. If my mobile phone does not work, how can I conduct the examination in the college,” she questioned. She said security measures inside the prison should not affect people outside. Ms. Kamat said she had lodged a complaint with the BSNL and also the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada.

It was not just Canara College, where mobile phones had stopped working. Guests, as well as, staff in the nearby Deepa Comforts and other adjoining buildings are also facing hardship. “While network is oft available, network of other service providers is hardly available in our hotel,” said Janardhan Rao, front office in-charge at Deepa Comforts. G.R. Ravi, General Manager of BSNL’s D.K. Telecom District, said signals from 11 mobile towers in and around M.G. Road, PVS Junction and Kodialbail had been affected following installation of jammers. People in these areas have been complaining of call drop. “We have escalated the problem to prison officials and ECIL in Bengaluru. We hope, the problem gets resolved at the earliest,” Mr. Ravi told The Hindu.

Director-General of Police (Prisons) H.N. Satyanarayana Rao said the agency that had installed jammers has been asked to address the problem. “I have asked the agency to resolve the issue and cause the least inconvenience to people,” he told The Hindu.(from thehindu.com)