Bhubaneswar: The state government has planned to equip all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the state with high-speed internet connectivity under BharatNet project of the Centre.
The office of the Chief Secretary Tuesday said that the state government has set a target of providing high-speed internet connectivity to all GPs by April 2021.
A decision to this effect was taken at the State Level Implementation Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy with Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) Secretary Manoj Mishra, Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra and others.
Till now 22, 541km optical fiber cable has been laid against the target of 27,610 km under BharatNet project. The remaining 5,069 km is likely to be completed soon. Altogether 4,651 GPs and 230 blocks have been provided with the connectivity till now, the E&IT department told the Chief Secretary.
The Chief Secretary asked the officials to expedite the implementation of Phase-II of BharatNet project. Tripathy also directed the officials to give wi-fi connectivity at main activity points of the GPs. All government offices including schools, hospitals and banks can also access the wi-fi service and ensure its regular maintenance for uninterrupted supply.
As per the plan, each panchayat under the scheme would have five connection points for utilisation by development institutions and government offices.
Telemedicine centres, schools and agriculture kiosks would be connected with wi-fi service to facilitate health care, e-learning and profitable agri-commerce.
“This infrastructure will bring all the GPs under state wide area network (SWAN). Its dark fibre network can be leased out to telecom and internet service providers on commercial basis,” E&IT Secretary Manoj Mishra said.
It was decided to formulate a special purpose vehicle (SPV) involving departments like Energy, E&IT and Panchayati Raj for productive utilisation of digital infrastructure created in the state. The Chief Secretary directed the officials to work out a viable business plan with self-sustaining models for the SPV.