GUWAHATI, 27 Jul: Union minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on Saturday that 100 per cent coverage of villages in terms of telecom connectivity in the country is targeted in the next 12 months.
Scindia, the union minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said that special funds have been sanctioned by the Cabinet for the purpose and he has himself been monitoring the progress of work every week.
Addressing a press conference here, he said, “The prime minister is committed to 100 per cent saturation. We have identified around 24,000 villages in the country that still need saturation in terms of telecom connection.”
A special scheme to reach all these villages has already been rolled out along with funds sanctioned for the purpose, he said.
Areas in the northeastern states are among these villages, and strategies are being worked out to reach these places, the minister said.
Provisions of the new Telecom Act enable setting up required infrastructure and mixed technologies like VSAT and satellite are being utilised with the “target of cent per cent saturation within 12 months,” Scindia said.
“I have been monitoring the work on a weekly basis, and 13,000-14,000 of these villages have also been covered,” he added.
Scindia spoke also about the allocations for the northeastern states in the 2024-’25 union budget.
“For the past 75 years, Northeast was treated as an orphan. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to make the region the engine of growth,” he claimed.
Special funds of about Rs 11,000 crores have been earmarked for flood management in Assam and Sikkim, and 100 new branches of India Post Payments Bank will come up in the region as per provisions of the budget.
Scindia maintained that the region will benefit from the different schemes for women, farmers, youths and economically weaker sections, as provided in the budget.
He asserted that the importance given to the region can be gauged from increased monetary allocation to the DoNER ministry, more funds coming through the devolution of central taxes and investment in developing connectivity infrastructure.
The minister maintained that major industrial projects would soon enter the region with the proper infrastructure in place.
Scindia cited the example of the Rs 27,000-crore semi-conductor unit to be set up by the Tata Group near Guwahati and termed it a “game-changer” for the entire Northeast.
“It is a holistic budget, which will set in a new era for the entire country,” the union minister added. (PTI)