Sources in the Secretariat told The Indian Express on Thursday that two `sat phones', each costing about Rs 1.95 lakh, had already been purchased.

One such phone will be carried by Chief Minister when on tour while another has been given to Industries Minister Suresh Mehta, the second-in-command in the Patel ministry.

Defending the government's decision to purchase the `sat phones', the sources said ``such ultra-modern communication devices will help VVIPs establish contacts with government machinery during times of natural calamities like cyclone and floods even from the remotest areas of the State".

The phone call rates range between maximum of Rs 200 per minute to minimum ofRs 40 per minute, depending on the distance a caller dials from.

In fact, the government had utilised the services of the two `sat phones' during last week's cyclone.

``The government also proposes to provide one such phone to each of the district collector control rooms at Bhuj, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Vadodara Surat and Palanpur'', the sources said.