Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Union Minister of State for Telecommunications Manoj Sinha will sign a significant Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the second phase of Bharat Net project on December 30 in the new capital city.
The senior officials of the Central Government’s Telecommunications Department, Bharat Broad Band Network Ltd (BBBNL), State Government’s Electronics and Information Technology Department and CHiPS will sign the MoU.
It may be mentioned here that 85 Development blocks and 5987 Gram Panchayats will be connected with optical fiber network in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Bharat Net project to bridge the ‘Digital Divide’ across the rural and urban regions.
The citizens will be provided with medical, banking, internet and other facilities.
Similarly, Chief Minister Raman Singh had launched the up linking project of the 64 developmental blocks and 5104 gram panchayats.
Development works on the Optic Fiber Connectivity in the 1800 gram panchayats had already been completed.
The project will entail an expenditure of Rs 1,600 crore. About 5.86 kilometre length optical fiber cable will be laid in each gram panchayat and in all 32 thousand 466 kilometre optical fiber will be laid across the State.
Bharat Net project is crucial for improving the connectivity in Left-Wing Extremism affected regions, forest regions and sparsely populated areas. Preparations are in full swing to provide Smart phones to 50 lakh citizens under the Sky scheme. It will give a fillip to cashless transactions and internet banking. The Department officers said that Bharat Net Project will benefit the masses, society and State Government. The Public Distribution System (PDS) process has been fully computerized.
Notably, a total of 1293 villages in Chhattisgarh had the duct created for putting optical fibre cable as on July 16, 2017 under BHARAT NET project , the Central Government has informed.
Notably, the BHARAT NET project, which is one of the pillars of Digital India Programme, is planned to establish a network infrastructure by connecting all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, aerial fibre, radio and satellite media, for providing broadband connectivity by all categories of service providers on non-discriminatory basis.
The project is planned to be implemented in three phases. Under Phase I of the project, 1 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) were to be connected by laying underground OFC by November 2017 in the country. Under Phase II, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media by March, 2019.
Under Phase III, a state- of- the-art future-proof network, including fibre between districts and blocks, with 5G services and Internet of Things and with underground OFC in ring architecture, is planned to be completed by 2023.
Out of total 9,770 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Chhattisgarh, 4104 GPs have been taken up under Bharat Net Phase-I for providing broadband connectivity, the Central Government has informed.
As on July 9, 2017, a total of 7,873 kms (3,159 GPs) Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid. A total of 1,289 GPs have been provided with broadband connectivity in Chhattisgarh so far.
The Union Ministry of Telecommunications has also approved a plan to connect village panchayats of Chhattisgarh with internet connectivity. This will really be a great feat.