Daily Times

KARACHI: Though the cellular companies are earning billions of rupees revenue, they have refused to bring the province’s prime tourist site – Gorakh Hills – into their network coverage citing lame excuses, it has emerged.

Gorakh Hills is a hill station in Sindh located on an elevation of 6000 feet. The hill station is 93 kilometers away from Dadu district along with Khuzdar, Balochistan border. It is the highest point of Kirthar Mountain Range in Sindh and a unique adventure point for nature lovers.

Gorakh is a gateway for local villagers of Khuzdar, Balochistan, who travels for purchasing food and other commodities from Wahipandi, a small town at the foot of the mountain range.

The provincial government has somehow developed a road network from Wahi Pandhi upto Gorakh Hills

“Now, the tourists from across the country particularly from Karachi visit the tourist site on weekends to enjoy cool weather. The only facility which lacks at the site is no access to mobile network”, sources said.

While talking to Daily Times, Gorakh Hill Development Authority (GHDA) Director General Nazeer Hussain Jamali said that he had been writing letters to all the mobile phone companies to bring the tourist resort into their network however all of them are avoiding doing so.

“Initially, I approached a cellular with a request to install towers at the Gorakh Hill to facilitate thousands of tourists however the management started delaying tactics and later refused. We are ready to offer all the facilities to the mobile companies free-of-cost just to facilitate local and international visitors”, the DG added.

“Later, another company itself approached me for installing towers at the Gorakh Hill and a team also visited the area and selected few sites. Later after couple of weeks, we received a reply from the company that it is facing financial problems, therefore, it could not install towers at the tourist point,” Nazeer Hussain Jamali said.

“The other two companies namely were also approached; however, no response has so far been received from them in a year time. Again, I approached the chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) requesting help. But, the PTA authorities asked me to approach the Ministry of Information Technology”, The DG further said.