Communication Ministry expresses concern over slow implementation
Significant progress recorded in Ladakh UT
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 5: Only 1055 Gram Panchayats in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been made service ready under the BharatNet Scheme launched by the Government of India under the Digital India Programme and the Union Communication Ministry has conveyed concern over the slow implementation to the concerned authorities.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that on October 25, 2011 the Government of India approved the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) initiative, later renamed as BharatNet, to connect all 250,000 Gram Panchayats in the country covering nearly 625,000 villages by utilizing the existing optical fibre network and extending it to the Gram Panchayats.
Since 2015, efforts are being made in the Jammu and Kashmir to provide benefit of BharatNet Scheme aimed at ensuring high-speed digital connectivity of the internet in the rural areas at a very affordable price to all the Gram Panchayats.
However, the implementation has remained poor even after the lapse of several years and this can be gauged from the official data of the Department of Telecommunication of the Union Ministry of Communication, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
During the Phase-I, a total of 413 Gram Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir were identified for providing benefit of BharatNet Scheme while as in Phase-II 3868 Gram Panchayats were planned to be covered. However, against total 4281 Gram Panchayats only 1055 have been made service ready —-408 in Phase-I and 647 in Phase-II.
“No time-frame has been fixed by the concerned authorities in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory for making remaining Gram Panchayats service ready under BharatNet Scheme”, sources said while disclosing that Union Communication Ministry has conveyed concern over the slow implementation of BharatNet in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory to the concerned authorities.
On the other side, the Union Territory of Ladakh has covered 188 Gram Panchayats under the scheme as against 193 planned in Phase-II of the scheme, which is considered as remarkable achievement by the Union Communication Ministry.
“In the Committee of Secretaries meeting held on December 1, 2021, Chief Secretary of J&K Dr Arun Kumar Mehta had issued directions for immediate operationalization of all the nodes under the BharatNet Scheme but the latest status is not known even to the concerned authorities”, sources informed, adding “unless the nodes are operationalized even the service ready Gram Panchayats cannot obtain benefits of BharatNet scheme”.
They further said, “the dilly-dallying approach is notwithstanding the fact that Apex Committee of several bureaucrats is supposed to periodically review the progress and initiate steps for removing the hurdles in making the remaining Gram Panchayats service ready under BharatNet”.
In response to a question, sources said that BharatNet is aimed at providing more employment opportunities, improved service delivery (online e-Gram Panchayat services, e-governance, e-education, e-health, e-medicine, e-grievances, e-agriculture, e-citizen, etc.) and an impetus to the Make in India, Digital India and Startup India initiatives.
It is pertinent to mention here that on June 30, 2021, the scope of BharatNet was extended up to all inhabited villages beyond Gram Panchayats along with approval for a revised strategy for implementation of BharatNet through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Holding lack of coordination between the project executing agency and concerned authorities of J&K responsible for delay, sources said, “had there been proper coordination much headway could have been made in the implementation of BharatNet Scheme”. They hoped that all the concerned authorities will make collective efforts to gear up the implementation of BharatNet.
EXCELSIOR made numerous attempts to ascertain the reasons behind delay in making all the Gram Panchayats service ready under BharatNet but there was no response from Department of Rural Development and Department of Telecommunication.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
