Union minister climbs tree to enable signal for phone call

Mangalore Today News Network

June 6, 2017: In reports signifying our advancements in digital India, a Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal wanted to make a phone call — but he had to climb a tree to do so.

The remote Rajasthan village of Dholia presented a bleak picture of ‘Digital India’ as the Minister of State for Finance discovered he could catch a mobile phone signal only after he had scaled the tree with the help of a ladder.

The Minister had stopped by at the village near Sri Dungargarh town, 85 km from Bikaner, on Sunday to ask the people about their problems.

When the locals urged the 63-year-old Minister to direct the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) to appoint a nurse for the local medical centre, he asked his assistant to connect him to the CMHO.

When he could not get through to the officer, a helpful man brought a ladder and placed it along a Khejdi tree.

“ Mantri ji, is par chadiya, tab lagega [Sir, it will work if you climb this],” local BJP leader Surendra Singh, who was present there, quoted the man as saying.

The Minister smiled, climbed up the ladder and the call went through, Mr. Singh said.

“They made me climb a tree and I can call only from here,” Mr. Meghwal was hearing telling the CMHO. “Appoint a temporary ANM [auxiliary nurse midwife] here tomorrow.”

But Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said the BJP Minister had “exposed the tall claims” made by the ruling party on connectivity in Digital India.