Kolkata, Nov 27 (PTI) The West Bengal government is contemplating setting up a radio station in the Sundarbans on a trial basis, which will help keep in touch with remote areas in a better way during disasters when communication becomes a major problem, an official said on Monday.
The plan for establishing the temporary radio station came while HAM radio operators of a club in West Bengal provided hands-on training to a group of newbies on how to establish radio networks after natural calamities.
The training session was held on Mousuni island, around one km from the mainland, under Namkhana block a week ago.
“We are thinking of setting up a temporary radio station on a trial basis. We can think about setting up a permanent radio station later,” Namkhana Block Disaster Management Officer, Rupam Dutta, said.
There are two permanent radio stations, one at Gangasagar Island in Sagar block and the other at Gosaba in Gosaba block, in South 24 Parganas district. Namkhana is also located in the same district.
These radio stations help local authorities keep in touch with the state administration during and after any natural calamity. The Sundarbans region is affected by cyclones several times a year.
Around 13,000 people were affected in Mousuni Island by Cyclone Yaas in 2021.
The HAM radio operators, imparted training to over 50 Civil Defence Volunteers, students and villagers. Besides they carried out experiments to find out whether proper radio signalling was possible from the remote Mousuni island.
“We had taken four high-frequency radio sets and four very high-frequency radio sets. Besides, we had 40 hand-held radio sets for the two-day training programme,” the secretary of West Bengal Radio Club, Ambarish Nag Biswas, said.
Among all trainees, Civil Defence Volunteers had received licenses for working as amateur radio operators from the central government after appearing for an examination.
In addition, the entire team showed lithium batteries for the radio sets, chargers and solar panels to the trainees and taught them how to use them. The solar panels are used to recharge the batteries of the HAM radio sets.
“The new license holders had no experience in the field. We hope that this training programme will assist them react promptly in case of any natural calamity in future and help the administration help the people in distress,” Nag Biswas said.
In case, one operator could not connect the administration with the help of a fellow HAM radio operator in the country, there is a provision that the person can connect the authorities with the help of similar operators of neighbouring countries, he said.
Such training programmes will also be conducted in disaster-prone areas across the state. The training called Mousuni Island DXpedition was organised jointly by the West Bengal Radio Club and the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management and for this programme, a special event call sign was taken from the central government. PTI SBN NN
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