New Delhi, March 27 (IANS). Out of the total 2.68 lakh gram panchayats in the country, 2.18 lakh gram panchayats have been prepared to provide high-speed internet services under the Bharatnate Project. This information was given by the government in Parliament.
Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, SP Singh Baghel said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the Bharatnet Project is being implemented in all the gram panchayats of the country in a phased manner by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT).
The Union Minister told the Rajya Sabha that all the states are trying to implement the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) on the basis of the resources available with them.
The DOT said that the government plans to complete the Bharatnet Project by March 2027.
The Union Minister said that the infrastructure built under Indianet can be used to provide broadband services such as fiber to the home (FTTH) connection, leased line, dark fiber and mobile towers.
He further stated that the Union Cabinet has approved the ‘AMAMEDED Bharatnet Program’ under the ‘Design, Build, Operate and Mainten’ model. Under this, the existing network of Bharatnet Phase-I and Bharatt Phase-II will be upgraded. Along with this, 42,000 such gram panchayats will be added, which are not yet service-red.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been targeted to provide 1.5 crore FTTH connections in the next five years.
The Union Minister also informed the Upper House that under the Digital India program, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is implementing e-Panchayat MMP in all the states and union territories of the country. The purpose of this initiative is to improve the functioning of panchayats, making them more transparent, accountable and effective.
As a part of this initiative, the Ministry has launched an online planning and accounting application called E-Gramswaraj, which has been designed to simplify panchayat activities such as planning, accounting and simplification.
-IANS
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