Monkeys feast on PM Narendra Modi's IT plans for Varanasi

Varanasi, Apr 2: Temple-town Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is one of the holiest cities of India. When PM Narendra Modi got elected from the constituency,during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he promised to make Varanasi into a 'WIFI city' and allocated Rs 100 crore to boost internet connectivity in the district.

The spiritual hotspot became the WIFI hotspot on February 8, 2015 when the Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad formally inaugurated BSNL's free Wi-fi service in the city. [Two ghats in Varanasi, now, wi-fi enabled]

[Prasad launches free wifi service in Varanasi, promises IT park]

Electricity shortages, crowded localities were some obstacles to make city a WIFI-enabled city. But that's not all, authorities are now faced with a new problem in hundreds of macaque monkeys, eating out costly fibre-optic cables.

"This is happening for some months. They chewed all the cables that we laid in the banks of ganges, and we had to replace them all with new ones. They are destroying all the wires and eating all," said a communications engineer who is the in-charge of overseeing the connections.

"Can't think of laying underground cable, considering the city is crowded with residents and temple-goers," he added.

In an effort to improve access and accountability, the Modi government has pledged to lay 700,000 km of broadband cable to connect India's 250,000 village clusters.

OneIndia News