(a) whether telephone facilities have been provided in all the villages of Chhattisgarh;
(b) if not, the number of villages which has not been provided with telephone facilities in the State, district-wise;
(c) whether any time-limit has been fixed by the Government for providing telephone facilities in every village of the State; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) & (b) No, Sir. The number of uncovered villages in Chhattisgarh is 5,051. This excludes villages which are depopulated, naxalite/insurgency infested, having population of less than hundred persons and those lying in deep forest areas. The district-wise list of uncovered villages is given in the Annexure.
(c) & (d) The office of Administrator, Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund has awarded the work of providing Village Public Telephones (VPTs) in remaining 5,051 villages of Chhattisgarh to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). These VPTs are planned to be provided in a phased manner by November, 2007.
ANNEXURE
DISTRICT-WISE LIST OF UNCOVERED VILLAGES IN CHHATTISGARH
Sl. No. Name of the No. of uncovered villages where VPTs District aree to be provided 1 Bastar 522 2 Bilaspur 48 3 Champa 0 4 Dantewada 866 5 Dhamtari 66 6 Durg 103 7 Jashpurnagar 95 8 Kanker 346 9 Kawardha 63 10 Korba 19 11 Koria 536 12 Mahasamund 168 13 Raigarh 141 14 Rajnandgaon 432 15 Raipur 332 16 Sarguja 1,314 Total 5,051