Question : TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND POSTAL FACILITIES IN UTTARANCHAL

COMMUNICATIONS
Khanduri AVSM,Maj.Gen.(Retd.) Bhuwan Chandra
17-04-2000

to the reply given to Starred Question No.141 dated march 6, 2000 regarding inadequate telecommunication and postal network and state:

(a) whether the Government propose to provide the Telecommunication and postal network facilities to the remote, under-developed hilly regions of Uttaranchal;

(b) if so, the details of the plan and the areas identified therefor;

(c) the number of villages in districts Pauri Garhwal, Chamoli and Rudraprayag which have been provided these facilities and the number out of them yet to be provided, district-wise;

(d) whether the existing Telecommunication facilities in the small towns and villages of these districts are non-functional; and

(e) if so, the reasons therefor and the action taken by the Government to make them functional?

Answer given by the minister

Minister of State for Communications

(Shri Tapan Sikdar)

(a) Yes Sir. All the villages not yet having telecom facility are proposed to be covered progressively by March 2002. Postal network facilities are also proposed to be provided by opening new post offices wherever justified on the basis of the prescribed norms and on availability of resources. However, mail delivery service is available in all the villages.

(b)
(i) Plans for telecom facilities :- VPTs in all the remaining villages, 19 new telephone exchanges and about 51,000 telephones are proposed to be provided. Telecom district-wise details are given in the Table-1 of enclosed Annexure-I.

(ii) Plans for postal network facilities:- On the basis of norms Extra Departmental Branch Post Offices (EDBPOs) are justified at 6 places (details are given in Table-2 Annexure-I) in different districts of Uttranchal. These will be opened subject to the availability of funds and sanction of ED posts by Ministry of Finance.

(c)
(i) Telecom Network:- District-wise information is given below.

Name of district	Total no. of	Villages provided with telecom facilities (VPTs)	Villages
Pauri Garhwal	3476	559
Chamoli	1081	274
Rudraprayag	480	240
Remaining villages do not have telecom facilities yet.

(ii)	Postal network facilities:- District-wise details of Post offices are given as under. 
Name of district	Villages having Post Offices
Pauri Garhwal	418
Chamoli	221
Rudraprayag	114
Remaining villages do not have post offices but mail delivery service is available.

(d) & (e) No Sir. The telephone exchanges are working properly. Some of the VPTs on MARR are, however, not functioning satisfactorily. The MARR technology has not been found very reliable. Lack of infrastructure facilities like stable power supply, efficient road communication are other reasons for unsatisfactory performance of VPTs. Government has taken several steps as mentioned below for improvement in service.

(i) Monitoring and Supervision has been stepped up;

(ii) Defective/missing batteries and Solar Panels are being replaced wherever necessary;

(iii) More staff has been trained for repairs of equipment. Workshops have been set up in several circles to repair the faulty equipment. Faulty equipment is also being repaired by the suppliers under Annual Repair Contracts.

(iv) Reliable transmission media is being provided progressively.
STATEMENT IN RESPECT OF PART(b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED NO.3597 FOR17TH APRIL,2000 REGARDING TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND POSTAL FACILITIES IN UTTARANCHAL.

ANNEX-I
Table-1

Telecommunications
Sl.No	SSA	Target of DELs	Exchanges Planned
1	Almora	6000	2
2	Kotdwar	8000	6
3	Nainital	16000	2
4	Dehradun	18000	2
5	Uttar Kashi	3000	7

Table-2
Postal
Sl.No.	Village	District	Division
1	Shiree	Uttarkashi	Tehri
2	Bansu	Rudraprayag	Chamoli
3	Deolibhanigram	Rudraprayag	Chamoli
4	Sankari	Tehri	Tehri
5	Mawakot	Pauri	Pauri
6	Sadhunagar	Udhamsingh Nagar	Naintal

Question : TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND POSTAL FACILITIES IN UTTARANCHAL

Answer given by the minister

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