Question : OUT OF ORDER MARR SOLAR TELEPHONES

to the reply given to Unstarred Question 4357 dated August 21, 2000 and state:

(a) whether the Department of Telecommunications has taken any action to rectify the fault of out of order Multi Access Rural Radio(MARR) system based solar telephones in the villages of Yavatmal district of Mahrashtra;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) if not the reasons therefor and the time by which these telephones are likely to be rectified;

(d) whether the Government propose to replace the highly fault prone MARR system based telephones by Wireless in Local Loop(WLL) system in the said district;

(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and

(f) if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)

(a) Yes, Sir.

(b) Following efforts were taken to rectify the VPT faults:

-48 VPTs and 4 base stations were rectified.
-Old and faulty batteries were replaced.
-Power supply units were installed after replacing the broken solar panels.
-New feeder cable was provided from antenna to the unit.
-Telephone instruments faults were also attended.