MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICTIONS
(SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) The number of Village Public Telephones out of order in the rural areas of the country are as below :
1) Andman & Nicobar 24
2) Andhra Pradesh 411
3) Assam 667
4) Bihar 8238
5) Gujrat 333
6) Haryana 738
7) Himachal Pradesh 569
in Rohru Sub-Division in Shimla District 6 VPTs out of 241 VPTs are faulty.
8) Jammu & Kashmir 597
9) Karnataka 760
10) Kerala Nil
11) Madhya Pradesh 11828
12) Maharashtra 1026
13) Arunachal Pradesh 197
14) Manipur 360
15) Meghalya 276
16) Mizoram 163
17) Nagaland 114
18) Tripura 187
19) Orissa 11125
20) Punjab 237
21) Rajasthan 3659
22) Tamilnadu 1231
23) Uttar Pradesh 9999
24) West Bengal 1895
25) Sikkim 30
(b) The reasons are as below ;
The realiability of MARR technology has not been proved satisfactory. The incidence of high fault rate is also due to :-
- frequent and prolonged power failure in rural areas.
- Inacessibility of remote villages leads to delay in repair and transporatation of stand by equipments.
- Misuse of batteries and equipments by VPT holders.
- Inadequate care by VPT holders.
- Too many type of equiments.
- Breakdown in physical lines being long distance from parent exchange.
- Terrorist activities in some part of Andhar Pradesh, North-East and Jammu & Kishmir Telecom. Circles.
- Lightening prone areas of North-East States and Assam State.
- Low voltage main power supply.
(c) The steps taken by the Government to make them functional are as below :
i) Revised guidelines have been issued to monitor the performnce of village public telehones as well as reporting mechanism have been strengthened for effective functioning of VPT.
ii) Action was taken for regular and periodic inspection of VPts by senior officers.
iii) Maintenance free batteries with solar panel are being provided to all VPTs working on MultiAccess Rural Radio systems.
iv) Maintenance staffs for MARR systems are being trained for the new technology.
v) Repair Centres are being opened to strategic location at all telecom circles.
vi) Annual Maintenance Contract with the suppliers of MARR systems are being entered into by Chief General Managers, Telecom. Circles.
vii) Installation & commissioning procedures have been Standardised/strengthened.
viii) Action is being taken to educate VPt holders for effective maintenance of VPTs.
ix) Village Public Telephone are tested regularly from the concerned exchange by dialling and any VPT not responding on two consecutive days is treated as faulty and is reported to secondary switching area incharge for immediate action.
x) VPT holder has been asked to book their fault at Telephone Exchnge/Junior Telecom. Officer Incharge.
xi) Sufficient spare units wherever not available are being procured.
xii) Different inspection schedules have been designed.
xiii) Monthly/Weekly performance reports(suggested by National Productivity Council) have been implemented.
xiv) SSA Heads are holding meetings with villagers to sort out the grievances.
xv) Flying squads have been constituted at Circle /Telecom. Headquarter level.
