(a) whether the Government have formulated any comprehensive action plan for developing telecommunication network in rural areas of the country;
(b) if so, the targets set for the current year and Ninth Five Year Plan, State-wise; and
(c) the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to strengthen, expand and upgrade communication network in the country
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) State-wise targets set for the current year and Ninth Five Year Plan are enclosed at Annexure.
(c) New technologies like Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) and C-DoT digital point to multi point system (TDMA-PMP) are being inducted to strengthen, expand and upgrade communication network in the rural areas of the country.
TARGET FOR 9TH FIVE YEAR PLAN AND CURRENT YEAR
Sl.No. CIRCLE/STATE TOTAL VILLAGE TARGET FOR BSNL TARGET VILLAGES WITH VPTs 9TH PLAN TARGET FOR PRIVATE AS ON 1.4.97 FOR 01-02 FIXED SERVICE PROVIDER 1 Andeman &Nicobar 282 111 171 0 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 29460 21272 8183 0 6077 3 Assam 22224 7864 14360 7707 0 4 Bihar 79208 15589 63619 52009 0 5 Gujrat 18125 13923 4202 0 4202 6 Haryana 6850 6510 340 0 0 7 Himachal Pradesh 16997 5075 11922 2631 0 8 Jammu & Kashmir 6764 2053 4711 2742 0 9 Karnataka 27066 17481 9585 10 0 10 Kerala 1530 1530 0 0 0 11 Madhyapradesh 71526 35367 36159 4333 19168 12 Maharastra 42467 26450 16017 0 10926 13 North-East-I 14446 3136 11310 9801 0 14 Orissa 46989 16173 30816 22024 0 15 Punjab 12687 12007 680 0 0 16 Rajasthan 38634 17325 21309 0 14809 17 Tamilnadu 17991 17038 953 0 0 18 Uttar Pradesh(East) 75698 23394 52304 14563 0 19 Uttar Pradesh(West) 39551 13957 25594 12853 0 20 West Bengal 38337 10985 27352 14535 0 21 Kolkata 468 421 47 47 0 22 Delhi 191 191 0 0 0 Total : 607491 267832 339659 143255 55182 Financial Target Year Allocation 1997-98 282. Crore 1998-99 202.71 Cr. 1999-2000 245.72 Cr. 2000-01 634. Cr. 2001-02 1290. Cr.