Bihar: Wi-Fi facility launched at Eco Park, next in zoo

PATNA: Internet facilities would be provided in all panchayats through optical fibre cable (OFC) to be laid jointly by state and central governments, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi announced on Friday.

Inaugurating the 100mbps free Wi-Fi internet connectivity at Rajdhani Vatika, commonly known as Eco Park here, SuMo said 2,000 village panchayats would have the common service centre (CSC) through broadband internet facilities within a month so that people could avail all the services of the state and central government.

He said optical fibre cables had been laid in 6,105 panchayats and 354 block headquarters in Bihar in the first phase of the BharatNet project, which is one of the pillars of Digital India Programme of the Centre. “In the second phase, optical fibre cables will be laid in 2,692 panchayats and 180 block headquarters at the estimated cost of Rs700 crore. It is expected to be completed by June,” he said.

SuMo said free Wi-Fi connectivity will be provided to Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park (Patna zoo) in the next phase. Over 22 lakh people visit the zoo every year.

The state, with the help of central government, has decided to set up five hotspots in each panchayat, including at three institutions and two government buildings. “The CSCs of 1200 panchayats of the state had already been connected through broadband. By next one month, 800 CSCs in panchayats will be connected to the internet. CSC operators are being paid Rs500 per month while Rs3,000 is being paid for overseeing optical fibre machines,” he said.

“Nearly 300 selected schools, colleges and technical institutes have been provided with free Wi-Fi at the cost of Rs250 crore,” he added.