Manzoor-ul-Hassan
Srinagar, Jul 12 : Out of 4,299 gram panchayats (GPs) in Jammu and Kashmir, 2,993 lack broadband internet connection, an official data published on a Germany-based global data and business intelligence platform Statista.com, revealed Friday.
As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), this makes up nearly 70 percent of panchayats lacking high-speed internet connectivity under the scheme.
BharatNet scheme, also known as the National Broadband Mission, was launched in 2021 for implementation in a phased manner to all gram panchayats (approximately 2.5 lakh) in the country. The aim was to provide non-discriminatory access to broadband connectivity to all the telecom service providers.
The objective of the scheme was also to enable access providers like mobile operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cable TV operators, and content providers to launch various services such as applications like e-health, e-education, and e-governance in rural and remote India.
Currently, over 2.1 lakh villages and gram panchayats, were equipped with internet access across India. Of these, Uttar Pradesh had the maximum connectivity in its rural areas with over 47,000 internet-equipped gram panchayats, followed by Maharashtra during the measured period.
In J&K, a crucial meeting of the 5th State Broadband Committee constituted to oversee the broadband mission, was held last month under Chief Secretary J&K, Atal Dulloo, who emphasised fixing timelines for the completion of each of the components as the union was reportedly lacking in the implementation.
Dulloo also asked for carrying out the joint survey by the Rural Development Department (RDD) and BSNL to assess the readiness of all the panchayats for the installation of Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) and the functionality of VSATs, provided earlier.
According to official data, under the Amended BharatNet Program (Phase III), the central government has approved will cover all the remaining GPs and Block Headquarters—(KNO)
