Deadline for broadband in 2.5 lakh villages extended

NEW DELHI: The government plans to extend the deadline for its ambitious plan to link 2.5 lakh villages with a broadband network by two years, making another attempt to revive the programme that should have been completed in 2013 but hasn’t moved beyond pilot projects. With just a few months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the ministry of communications and information technology has decided to approach the Cabinet for more time and money for the project that the Congress had, in its 2009 election manifesto pledged to complete in three years. In 2011, the government approved a plan to build a Rs20,000 crore National Optical Fibre Network to connect 2,50,000 villages by October 2013 with high-speed internet to allow villagers to access government services in a fast and hassle-free manner and ensure transparent implementation of government schemes. However, only three projects were undertaken.

As per the ministry’s proposal, the programme will be implemented in three phases. The first phase, which will cover 100,000 panchayats by March 31, 2014 will require an additional Rs901 crore, taking the total cost of the fist phase to Rs11,148 crore. The project is being executed by a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband Network Limited, and the task of executing the project was given to three public sector undertakings – BSNL, Railtel and PowerGrid.

The National Optical Fibre Network was to put in place an electronic delivery system to ensure that people in rural areas could avail of government services without having to approach different agencies. It was argued that extending the broadband connectivity to villages would ensure better and more transparent implementation of government schemes aimed at creating rural infrastructure, employment and livelihoods through people’s participation.

The extension of services from district headquarters or block level to the gram panchayats was to be done through funds sourced from the Universal Service Obligation Fund. The private sector service providers were expected to make a similar investment to enable individuals to use the broadband.

The ministry says that the project is yet to take off beyond pilot phase but insists that a lot of preliminary work has already been undertaken. It has blamed the delay on the time taken for getting requisite permissions from state governments and the remote locations of villages to be reached. The ministry has suggested implementing the project in three phases to lower the risks involved. Bharat Broadband Network Limited has worked out a plan with the cooperation of BSNL to immediately focus on 5,000 panchayats across 101 blocks in 101 districts across 14 states, officials said.