(a) the total number of Village Public Telephone (VPT) installed
in Gujarat, District-wise;
(b) the target set for the purpose during the Tenth Five Year
Plan;
(c) the steps taken to achieve the target;
(d) the extent to which this target has been achieved so far;
and
(e) by when each village in the country is likely to be provided
with VPT?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) 15,855 Village Public Telephones (VPTs) have been provided
in Gujarat Telecom Circle. The Secondary Switching Area (SSA)
wise details are given in the Annexure.
(b) to (d) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has entered
into an agreement with the office of the Administrator Universal
Service Obligation (USO) Fund to provide VPTs in remaining 4,144
inhabited villages having population more than 100. These VPTs
are planned to be provided in a phased manner by November, 2007.
Out of these 4,144 VPTs, 1,130 VPTs have been provided in Gujarat
Telecom Circle so far.
(e) BSNL has entered into an agreement with the office of the
Administrator USO Fund to provide VPTs in remaining 66,822
villages in phased manner over a period of three years i.e. by
November, 2007. This excludes villages which are depopulated,
naxalite/ insurgency infested, having population of less than
hundred persons and those lying in deep forest areas.
Annexure
SECONDARY SWITCHING AREA (SSA) WISE DETAILS OF VILLAGE PUBLIC
TELEPHONE PROVIDED IN GUJARAT TELECOM CIRCLE
Sl Name of SSA Number of VPTs provided Total no. No. by of VPTs provided BSNL RIL 1 Ahmedabad 564 158 722 2 Amreli 565 52 617 3 Bhavnagar 587 150 737 4 Bharuch 723 151 874 5 Bhuj 446 153 599 6 Godhra 1,180 322 1,502 7 Himatnagar 879 398 1,277 8 Jamnagar 493 105 598 9 Junagarh 899 41 940 10 Mehsana 601 465 1,066 11 Nadiad 735 354 1,089 12 Palanpur 985 351 1,336 13 Rajkot 805 3 808 14 Surat 788 208 996 15 Surendranagar 565 51 616 16 Vadodara 818 433 1,251 17 Valsad 623 204 827 Total 12,256 3,599 15,855*********