(a) whether the expansion and upgradation work of telecommunications is
progressing at a very slow pace in the rural areas of the country,
particularly in Gujarat and West Bengal;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) the details of the expansion and upgradation work of
telecommunications carried out during the last three years, year-wise and
State-wise; and
(d) the efforts being made by the Government for the expansion and
upgradation of the communication system in the country?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) No, Sir. All villages in West Bengal other than those having less than
100 population, lying in thick forest area/naxalite infested area etc. have
been provided with Village Public Telephones (VPTs).
In respect of Gujarat, out of 4,144 remaining unconnected eligible
villages as of November, 2004, 1,965 villages have been provided VPTs as on
31.12.2005. The remaining 2,179 villages will be covered progressively by
November, 2007.
Additionally 10,021 in Gujarat and 4,506 villages in West Bengal have
been covered with cellular services of BSNL.
(b) Does not arise in view of (a) above.
(c) The details of work carried out in rural areas of Gujarat and West
Bengal for the expansion and upgradation of telecommunication facilities
during the last three years is given in Annexure I to IV.
(d) For faster expansion and upgradation of communication system in the
country, following steps are being undertaken:-
(i) Provision of Village Public Telephones (VPTs) in all the remaining
uncovered eligible villages, excluding villages having less than 100
population, lying in thick forest areas/naxalite infested areas etc.
(ii) Provision of Rural Community Phones (RCPs) with population more than
2000 and where there are no Public Call Offices (PCOs).
(iii) Replacement of Multi-Access Radio Relay (MARR) VPTs.
(iv) Provision of Rural Individual Phone Connections (RDLs) on demand in
1685 commercially unviable Short Distance Charging Areas (SDCAs) from the
second quarter of 2006.
(v) Large scale deployment of Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) network in
rural areas.
(vi) Relaxation of the outdoor cable norm to 5 kms as against the earlier
norm of 2.5 kms for landline exchanges.
Annexure
Year wise & state wise achievements of VPTs
S. Name of 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 Total No Circles Achievement Achievement Achievement Achievement Achievement [upto 31.12.05]
1 Andaman & 1 0 0 0 1 Nicobar 2 Andhara 0 0 180 57 237 Pradesh 3 Assam 1007 1354 1956 940 5257 4 Bihar 9061 0 0 0 9061 5 Jharkhand 9197 634 64 0 9895 6 Gujarat 0 0 1130 755 1885 7 Haryana 0 0 0 0 0 8 Himachal 205 2 0 227 434 Pradesh 9 Jammu & 177 537 201 91 1006 Kashmir 10 Karnataka 6 0 0 0 6 11 Kerala 0 0 0 0 0 12 Madhya 0 4 2549 1853 4406 Pradesh 13 Chhattisgarh 248 0 167 725 1140 14 Maharashtra 0 0 1437 752 2189 15 North East I 389 847 167 8 1411 16 North East II 135 907 269 32 1343 17 Orissa 5078 318 0 0 5396 18 Punjab 0 0 0 0 0 19 Rajasthan 0 0 1073 3259 4332 20 Tamil Nadu 0 0 0 0 0 21 Uttar 6651 35 6 0 6692 Pradesh(E) 22 Uttar 0 0 0 0 0 Pradesh(W) 23 Uttaranchal 1627 99 111 95 1932 24 West Bengal 3147 0 0 0 3147 TOTAL 36929 4737 9310 8794 59770
SL. Name of Circle No.of RCP RCP Acheiv- Cummul- NO. RCP pro- pro- ement ative allot- vided vided during Achvmt. ted upto upto 05-06 upto 31.3.05 31.3.05 31.12.05
1 ANDAMAN & NICOBAR 0 0 0 0 0 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 3677 538 82 841 1379 3 ASSAM 1913 0 77 699 699 4 BIHAR 1302 14 32 610 624 5 JHARKHAND 451 119 28 227 346 6 GUJARAT 1801 1024 39 237 1261 7 HARYANA 145 39 0 44 83 8 HIMACHAL PRADESH 95 27 2 5 32 9 JAMMU & KASHMIR 122 23 0 4 27 10 KARNATKA 1528 590 31 737 1327 11 KERALA 1 0 0 1 1 12 MADHYA PRADESH 1810 1037 50 277 1314 13 CHHATISGARH 576 229 38 319 548 14 MAHARASHTRA 3140 369 70 339 708 15 NORTH-EAST I 505 62 0 3 65 16 NORTH-EAST II 193 48 0 4 52 17 ORISSA 936 261 65 425 686 18 PUNJAB 43 43 0 0 43 19 RAJASTHAN 1416 321 48 283 604 20 TAMIL NADU 1424 757 40 449 1206 21 UTTAR PRADESH(E) 2210 216 47 1201 1417 22 UTTAR PRADESH(W) 429 85 13 173 258 23 UTTARANCHAL 5 4 0 0 4 24 WESTBENGAL 1072 63 33 309 372 TOTAL 24794 5869 695 7187 13056
Sl. Circle WLL Capacity achievement during CMTS Capacity achievement during No. 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2003 2004 2005 2006 2003 2004 2005 2006 (upto (upto 31.12.05) 31.12.05)
1 Andaman & 1000 3000 0 499 2000 4000 7500 3500 Nicobar 2 Andhra Pradesh 9000 106500 0 29573 412600 183000 227316 419114 3 Assam 0 55250 0 10433 0 35263 107287 216950 4 Bihar 70000 47500 2500 15769 36000 103050 79000 272600 5 Chhatisgarh 3100 47650 5050 6214 16400 15550 0 50000 6 Gujarat 10500 84250 32700 27388 210000 249750 350000 0 7 Haryana 0 51600 40900 8930 111000 28316 140684 335525 8 Himachal 0 7500 0 17086 12000 34522 50748 185403 Pradesh 9 Jammu & Kashmir 7500 2000 7500 14192 0 37200 104000 278860 10 Jharkhand 27000 22000 0 2682 21000 73502 72205 -9110 11 Karnataka 19650 69600 43000 29604 307590 32410 378000 443094 12 Kerala 42250 145500 31750 115717 326000 585 415000 448365 13 Madhya Pradesh 0 76000 35250 68255 68900 36500 148500 0 14 Maharashtra 13500 180850 47650 25194 275000 220300 450000 0 15 North East -I 8000 6500 0 1989 0 12932 39513 55869 16 North East -II 6000 9000 0 2235 0 14000 42200 54820 17 Orissa 16500 25000 15000 15656 40000 89900 115000 151100 18 Punjab 0 83000 59250 10084 110000 235300 138500 -5740 19 Rajasthan 6500 107750 22500 52665 137650 54050 180650 0 20 Tamil Nadu 10000 61750 57000 48814 342900 67100 379044 591907 21 Uttaranchal 2500 14000 500 6031 31600 38950 45020 174245 22 Uttar Pradesh 40000 139250 28000 53838 74000 210300 362650 971020 (E) 23 Uttar Pradesh 9000 49000 6000 6339 67000 156481 169886 360332 (W) 24 West Bengal 9500 45500 19000 17954 40500 106850 107100 353000 25 Kolkata 0 29500 4400 -1089 15000 0 246400 25064 26 Chennai 0 20000 8000 3508 0 131000 275000 450000 Total 311500 1489450 465950 589560 2657140 2170811 4631203 5825918
TELEPHONE EXCHANGES NET SWG. CAPACITY RURAL DELs(WLL+FIXED) Sr.Name of 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- No Circle 2003 2004 2005 2006 2003 2004 2005 2006 2003 2004 2005 2006 (upto (upto (upto Dec`05) Dec`05) Dec`05)
1 ANDAMAN/NICOBAR 3 0 0 0 1024 1584 272 2196 1624 2413 1580 375 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 124 64 87 132 1297935 24423 20010 -102889 116559 195054 50072 -46816 3 ASSAM 42 24 2 0 36014 13054 16321 30844 21675 24267 19321 16276 4 BIHAR 23 37 27 2 58750 63490 59722 12688 48323 94905 56443 43475 5 CHHATISGARH 15 3 0 0 9895 3715 -1267 -1871 6373 34651 13430 -7282 6 GUJRAT 207 31 0 0 229140 25674 11042 -2264 139781 38893 33636 17581 7 HARYANA 16 1 26 0 83553 50863 23860 21300 57026 21602 56390 32867 8 HIMACHAL 37 2 3 19 49122 9784 8908 6872 21733 18065 71518 20681 PRADESH 9 JAMMU & KASHMIR 57 0 7 2 32908 5216 13480 5896 22810 9365 13906 3636 10 JHARKHAND 15 13 2 5 13996 15292 4500 10264 7975 38032 12156 11944 11 KARNATKA 54 7 2 18 70685 13902 25533 1680 76810 37366 28519 25586 12 KERALA 76 28 14 1 388711 204679 213035 47310 285777 225983 317452 165939 13 MADHYA PRADESH 34 16 3 0 1952 -9268 1998 4356 21433 77797 -2777 37327 14 MAHARASHTRA 105 31 7 6 226990 98320 90988 43592 171649 114676 138908 60419 15 NORTH EAST-I 30 2 9 1 3832 4056 1808 4916 1615 10503 7277 2253 16 NORTH EAST-II 22 4 4 0 11580 5844 -1600 616 6018 12977 6076 1456 17 ORISSA 34 6 13 0 44640 12030 6004 9622 31527 61808 30712 23905 18 PUNJAB 59 7 1 0 161614 30774 -4018 1264 86288 44716 81901 -2688 19 RAJASTHAN 47 16 1 0 105678 23722 -41306 1184 58297 58099 62170 63035 20 TAMILNADU 503 7 13 0 506398 10676 27498 -30316 555297 79142 148278 12959 21 UTTARANCHAL 22 9 7 0 27224 9500 3532 4628 5630 2233 11131 8284 22 UTTAR 35 17 10 0 103439 -89654 6856 2619 125085 -46183 39256 7534 PRADESH(E) 23 UTTAR 10 4 1 0 71931 14750 32714 -2214 32287 32907 39922 -980 PRADESH(W) 24 WEST BENGAL 62 12 14 2 122220 63044 58136 14691 70804 71855 59690 47812 25 KOLKATA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 CHENNAI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47536 0 0 0 62473 TOTAL: 1632 341 253 188 2491089 825282 578026 134520 1972396 1281126 1296967 608051