(a) the number of villages targeted to be connected by telephone services in Rajasthan during last three years;
(b) whether the Government have achieved the target particularly in Jodhpur district; and
(c) if not, the steps taken to provide the telephone connections to remaining villages?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) M/s Shyam Telelink Ltd., the private Basic Telephone Service operator in Rajasthan, had a target to connect a total of 31834 villages in 3 years (7439 in the first year, 10629 in the second year and 13766 in the third year) with effect from 4.3.1998.
(b) M/s Shyam Telelink Ltd. has reported that it has connected 209 villages in Rajasthan, which includes 35 villages of Jodhpur district.
(c) Government has recovered Liquidated Damage(LD) charges for the company`s delay in performance and made it clear that its committed performance obligations cannot be diluted in any case. Government has asked the company to complete the unfulfilled committed roll out obligations by December, 2002 against submission of Additional Performance Bank Guarantees and Deed of Guarantees.