Lok Sabha Question No. 2144 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-04
Subject: Internet Facility in Panchayats
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sambhajirao Mane Dhairyasheel, Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Sujay Radhakrishna Vikhepatil, Hemant Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2144 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  MARCH, 2020

## INTERNET FACILITY IN PANCHAYATS

## 2144.   SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE: SHRI UNMESH BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: DR. SUJAY RADHAKRISHNA VIKHE PATIL: SHRI HEMANT SRIRAM PATIL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  Government  has  provided  Internet  facility  in  the  panchayats  to  extend  the  benefits  of communication and information technology to the people living in rural areas of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of funds released and utilised in this respect during each of the last three years, State/UTwise; and
- (d) the total number of people who were benefited through the facility during the said period, State/UTwise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

(a) & (b) BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to  all  the  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2,50,000)  in  the  country.  As  part  of  BharatNet  project,  the  Last  Mile Connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband access technology is to be provided in all the Gram Panchayats.

In  the  1.23  lakh  GPs  (approx.)  of  BharatNet  Phase-I,  the  provisioning  of  Wi-Fi  Services  has  been assigned to Government of Rajasthan, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited (a Special Purpose Vehicle under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology), etc. In the 1407 GPs of BharatNet Phase-II, the provisioning of connectivity over satellite media, along with Wi-Fi services, has been assigned to BSNL.

As on 24.02.2020, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in 45,769 Gram Panchayats (GPs) and out of them, services are being provided in 18,683 GPs.

(c) Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) has disbursed Rs 5600 Crore, Rs. 6000 Crore, and Rs. 4145.54  Crore  to  Bharat  Broadband  Network  Limited    (BBNL)  during  2016-17,  2017-18,  2018-19 respectively, and the details of the State/UT-wise funds released /utilised by BBNL in this respect during each of the last three years, are given in Annex-I .  Further, the details of the State/UT-wise funds,  directly released by USOF, are given in Annex-II

- (d)    The details of the State/UT-wise active subscribers of Wi-Fi services under BharatNet project are given in Annex-III.

## Annex-I

## Annexure referred to in Part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2144 for Answer on 04.03.2020.

## Funds released/utilised by BBNL for the BharatNet  during last three years

| S.No.                          | State                                    |   Year 2016-17 |   Year 2017-18 |   Year 2018-19 |
|--------------------------------|------------------------------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| 1                              | Andaman &Nicobar                         |    1.84643e+07 |        1600000 |              0 |
| 2                              | Andhra Pradesh                           |    0           |              0 |       28257523 |
| 3                              | Arunachal Pradesh                        |    1.76787e+08 |      139671853 |              0 |
| 4                              | Assam                                    |    8.91768e+08 |      121022896 |      111147297 |
| 5                              | Bihar                                    |    1.901e+09   |      452279258 |     1025139872 |
| 6                              | Chhattisgarh                             |    2.41203e+09 |     1009457086 |     2473436121 |
| 7                              | Gujarat, Dadra &Nagar Haveli, Daman &Diu |    1.298e+09   |      743049756 |     2566552474 |
| 8                              | Haryana                                  |    9.06576e+08 |     1514305607 |       97260991 |
| 9                              | Himachal Pradesh                         |    5.25128e+08 |              0 |        5631310 |
| 10                             | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh                |    4.2375e+08  |       39011100 |        4573254 |
| 11                             | Jharkhand                                |    8.13946e+08 |       96710822 |      768583039 |
| 12                             | Karnataka                                |    1.24901e+07 |     2738336877 |      502688665 |
| 13                             | Kerala                                   |    2.59561e+08 |      125084405 |      128586308 |
| 14                             | Lakshadweep                              |    0           |              0 |              0 |
| 15                             | Madhya Pradesh                           |    4.51956e+09 |     2382297311 |      752740055 |
| 16                             | Maharashtra                              |    5.85186e+09 |     2439577323 |     3970879360 |
| 17                             | Manipur                                  |    1.85186e+08 |      146307480 |              0 |
| 18                             | Meghalaya                                |    2.47461e+08 |      195508225 |              0 |
| 19                             | Mizoram                                  |    1.3213e+08  |      123487397 |              0 |
| 20                             | Nagaland                                 |    2.03623e+08 |      160873490 |              0 |
| 21                             | Odisha                                   |    1.15806e+09 |      137598146 |      667823793 |
| 22                             | Puducherry                               |    2.23429e+07 |        5316342 |        7532036 |
| 23                             | Punjab                                   |    2.36294e+09 |      127721902 |      826997606 |
| 24                             | Rajasthan                                |    1.6247e+09  |     1466179320 |      673987717 |
| 25                             | Sikkim                                   |    4.32268e+08 |              0 |              0 |
| 26                             | Tamil Nadu                               |    0           |     1106410000 |              0 |
| 27                             | Telangana                                |    8.23894e+07 |       11999999 |       51676013 |
| 28                             | Tripura                                  |    2.09154e+08 |      165243293 |              0 |
| 29                             | Uttar Pradesh                            |    6.35303e+09 |     1478805370 |              0 |
| 30                             | Uttarakhand                              |    1.27445e+09 |       43693684 |       50361872 |
| 31                             | West Bengal                              |    1.41629e+09 |      937578370 |      132237331 |
| Total                          | Total                                    |    3.57149e+10 |    17909127313 |    14846092637 |
| * GPON &OFC                    | * GPON &OFC                              |    6.91908e+09 |     1152730518 |              0 |
| * Ad hoc payment done for BSNL | * Ad hoc payment done for BSNL           |    0           |              0 |     8630000000 |
| TCIL                           | TCIL                                     |    0           |              0 |              0 |
| BSNL -VSAT                     | BSNL -VSAT                               |    0           |              0 |              0 |
| Total                          | Total                                    |    4.2634e+10  |    19061857831 |    23476092637 |

Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (c)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2144  for  Answer  on 04.03.2020.

## State/UT-wise funds directly released by USOF during the last three years

| Sl. No.   | NAMEOF STATE/UT/ CCA                         | Rs. in Crore   | Rs. in Crore   | Rs. in Crore   |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|           |                                              | 2016-17        | 2017-18        | 2018-19        |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh                               | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 2         | Assam                                        | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 3         | Bihar                                        | 2.01           | 4.41           | 0.00           |
| 4         | Chhattisgarh                                 | 2.81           | 5.36           | 0.00           |
| 5         | Chandigarh                                   | 0.09           | 0.16           | 0.00           |
| 6         | Haryana                                      | 0.44           | 0.83           | 0.00           |
| 7         | Himachal Pradesh                             | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 8         | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 9         | Jharkhand                                    | 2.53           | 4.84           | 0.00           |
| 10        | Karnataka                                    | 0.46           | 2.01           | 0.00           |
| 11        | Kerala                                       | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 12        | Maharashtra                                  | 1.06           | 2.03           | 0.00           |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh                               | 9.40           | 17.94          | 0.00           |
| 14        | NE-I ( Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram)          | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 15        | NE-II (Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh) | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 16        | Odisha                                       | 0.64           | 1.23           | 0.00           |
| 17        | Puducherry                                   | 0.58           | 1.10           | 0.00           |
| 18        | Rajasthan                                    | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
| 19        | Uttar Pradesh                                | 13.16          | 26.25          | 0.00           |
| 20        | Uttarakhand                                  | 2.52           | 4.81           | 0.00           |
| 21        | West Bengal                                  | 0.00           | 0.00           | 0.00           |
|           | Total                                        | 35.70          | 70.98          | 0.00           |

Annex-III Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (d)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2144  for  Answer  on 04.03.2020.

## State/UT-wise active subscribers of Wi-Fi services under BharatNet project

| S. No.   | State/UT            |   Active subscribers of Wi Fi services under BharatNet |
|----------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar    |                                                      0 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh      |                                                      0 |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh   |                                                      0 |
| 4        | Assam               |                                                      0 |
| 5        | Bihar               |                                                  20857 |
| 6        | Chandigarh          |                                                     58 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh        |                                                  34008 |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                                                      0 |
| 9        | Daman &Diu          |                                                      0 |
| 10       | Gujarat             |                                                      0 |
| 11       | Haryana             |                                                  65605 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh    |                                                    311 |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir      |                                                      0 |
| 14       | Jharkhand           |                                                  32582 |
| 15       | Karnataka           |                                                  90851 |
| 16       | Kerala              |                                                  70036 |
| 17       | Lakshadweep         |                                                      0 |
| 18       | Ladakh              |                                                      0 |
| 19       | Madhya Pradesh      |                                                 104655 |
| 20       | Maharashtra         |                                                  50309 |
| 21       | Manipur             |                                                     34 |
| 22       | Meghalaya           |                                                      0 |
| 23       | Mizoram             |                                                      0 |
| 24       | Nagaland            |                                                      0 |
| 25       | Odisha              |                                                   8365 |
| 26       | Puducherry          |                                                   7068 |
| 27       | Punjab              |                                                      0 |
| 28       | Rajasthan           |                                                  11794 |
| 29       | Sikkim              |                                                      0 |
| 30       | Telangana           |                                                      0 |
| 31       | Tripura             |                                                      0 |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh       |                                                 700021 |
| 33       | Uttarakhand         |                                                  70519 |
| 34       | West Bengal         |                                                      0 |
| Total    | Total               |                                                1267073 |

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