Question : PUBLIC TELEPHONE BOOTHS

(a) the number of public telephone booths installed in the country during the Ninth Five Year Plan, State-wise;

(b) the target fixed for the Tenth Five Year Plan; and

(c) the criteria laid down for fixing targets in each plan period?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) A total number of 772937 Public Telephone Booths were provided during 9th Five Year Plan. The State-wise numbers is given in the Annexure.

(b) PCOs are allotted liberally to all applicants above 18 years of age as per their registration subject to technical feasibility. Hence, no target has been fixed for installation of PCOs for the tenth Five Year Plan. The number of PCOs to be installed during the said period depends on the demand.

(c) Does not arise in view of (b) above.


ANNEXURE

Public telephone booths installed in the country during the ninth five year plan

Sl.	Name of the States/UTs	Number of Public
No	Telephone Booths	provided

1	Andaman & Nicobar	459
2	Andhra Pradesh	79930
3	Aruachal Pradesh	530
4	Assam	8820
5	Bihar	24111
6	Chhattisgarh	5005
7	Daman	220
8	Diu	66
9	Dadra Nagar Haveli	207
10	Gujarat	20036
11	Goa	1820
12	Haryana	14285
13	Himachal Pradesh	4443
14	Jammu Kishmir	6941
15	Jharkhand	6560
16	Karnataka	45774
17	Kerala	30188
18	Lakshadweep	20
19	Madhya Pradesh	43258
20	Maharashtra (including Mumbai)	177799
21	Meghalya	1105
22	Mizoram	576
23	Manipur	630
24	Nagaland	848
25	Orissa	15167
26	Punjab (including Chandigarh)	22457
27	Pondicherry	1387
28	Rajasthan	28076
29	Sikkim	250
30	Tamilnadu (inclding chennai)	90171
31	Tripura	1266
32	Uttarmchal	4453
33	Uttar Pradesh	69409
34	West Bengal (incluiding Kolkata)	44120
35	Delhi	22550

Grand Total	772937