Uttarakhand activist writes to PMO, gets village digitally connected

DEHRADUN: After several attempts to get his village digitally connected did not bear fruit, an RTI activist finally wrote to the Prime Minister's Office ( PMO), and to his surprise, got a quick response, with a copy of instructions that his village, Dudhali, be provided internet facilities under the PM's Digital India initiative which aims to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks.

The activist, Ajay Kumar, said he never expected such a quick response when he wrote to the PMO on June 1. By June 6, PMO had written to the Union rural development ministry and the Uttarakhand government about his request and also uploaded the response and action on the PMO-PG website.

By June 17, Kumar got the response from PMO about the officials entrusted to review the action both in Uttarakhand and the central government.

"I had written to the PM demanding internet connectivity, e-smart classes in the schools, e-library and connecting the village with the optical fibre network," said Kumar. Dudhali village is close to Doiwala where residents still struggle for basic civic facilities.

Last week, Kumar was informed by the state government that the information technology department has been instructed to start working on his demands.

"I have been informed about the status of my request. To be honest, I had not expected that writing a letter to the PM would be taken so seriously that all the department would start working on the plan," he said.

He had demanded setting up of common services centre ( CSC) in the village to begin internet-based services like issuing of certificates including domicile, caste, birth, death and payment of water and power bills.

"Villagers have to run around from here all the way to Dehradun to get these certificates. If the state government starts a CSC in Dudhali, it would benefit locals enormously," he said.

The village has a population of over 7,000 and is 20 km away from the hill capital. State government officials admitted about the direction from the PMO and said they are now preparing a plan of action.

"It is being prepared in consultation with the IT department and the stakeholders including the villagers before we start the work," said an official here.