ROLPA-Local government authorities including the CDO still use an obsolete telegram to send urgent messages to the prime minister's office in Kathmandu. The Maoists in Rolpa, on the other hand, carry satellite phones and cordless sets. CDO Kamalmani Kafle believes that as far as the government is concerned Rolpa doesn't exist. The Maoists have superior communications and use it for early warning about army patrols. The CDO has to first write down his message, send it by messenger to the police office, where it is then dictated as a telegram and passed on to Kathmandu. Rolpa's communication would improve if the government got around to repairing the nine VSAT telephone lines at Sat Dobato, eight km from the district headquarters. Kafle has repeatedly requested repairs, but it hasn't happened. Government staff can't even call their families to let them know they are ok. "Two ministers of the government are from this district but they couldn't be bothered about our broken phones," says a civil servant posted here. Most phones have been out since the Maoists bombed the microwave tower here in 2002.