Question : VILLAGE PUBLIC TELEPHONE IN GUJARAT



(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?

Answer given by the minister


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
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