Lok Sabha Question No. 2683 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-04
Subject: BharatNet Project and NOFN
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Satyadev Pachauri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2683 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  AUGUST, 2021

## BHARATNET PROJECT AND NOFN

## 2683. SHRI SATYADEV PACHAURI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the status of BharatNet project along with the date when it was launched;
- (b) whether  the  said  project  is  an  extension  of  National  Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN) which was launched in 2011;
- (c) the  details  of  the  States  where  all  Gram  Panchayats  have  already  been  linked  with broadband connectivity under the BharatNet project;
- (d) the name of States where Gram Panchayats are still to be connected under the project; and
- (e) the funds allocated/released/utilized by the Government thereunder so far?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) & (b) The  Union  Cabinet  on  25.10.2011  approved  the  setting  up  of  National  Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) which was subsequently renamed as BharatNet.

As on 09.07.2021,  by  laying  5,30,928  km  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC),  1,53,836  Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been made Service Ready on OFC media. Further, 4083 GPs have been made Service Ready on Satellite media. In total, 1,57,919 GPs have been made Service Ready under the BharatNet project in the country.

(c) & (d) As on 09.07.2021, all the GPs have been made Service Ready in the State/Union Territory (UT) of Kerala and Chandigarh. Further, almost all GPs have been made Service Ready in Haryana, Karnataka, Puducherry, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. The State/UTwise details of number of planned GPs, Service Ready GPs, and the GPs which are yet to be made Service Ready under BharatNet project, are given in Annexure-I .

(e) The  State/UT-wise  funds allocation is based on the requests received from  the Implementing  Agencies.  As  on  31.03.2021,  an  amount  of  about  Rs.  24,201  crore  has  been allocated/utilized under BharatNet Project in the country.

## Annexure  referred  to  in  Parts  (c)  &  (d)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2683  for  answer  on 04.08.2021

State/UT-wise details of BharatNet project (as on 09.07.2021)

| S. No.   | State/UT                            |   No. of planned GPs |   No. of Service Ready GPs |   No. of GPs yet to be made Service Ready |
|----------|-------------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands            |                   70 |                         21 |                                        49 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh*                     |                13371 |                       1703 |                                     11668 |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh                   |                 1796 |                        721 |                                      1075 |
| 4        | Assam                               |                 2662 |                       1497 |                                      1165 |
| 5        | Bihar                               |                 8404 |                       8295 |                                       109 |
| 6        | Chandigarh                          |                   12 |                         12 |                                         0 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh*                       |                11664 |                       7870 |                                      3794 |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |                   38 |                         36 |                                         2 |
| 9        | Goa#                                |                  191 |                          0 |                                       191 |
| 10       | Gujarat*                            |                14402 |                      13644 |                                       758 |
| 11       | Haryana                             |                 6171 |                       6082 |                                        89 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh                    |                 3226 |                        394 |                                      2832 |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir                      |                 4289 |                       1001 |                                      3288 |
| 14       | Jharkhand*                          |                 4395 |                       3686 |                                       709 |
| 15       | Karnataka                           |                 6084 |                       6080 |                                         4 |
| 16       | Kerala                              |                  977 |                        977 |                                         0 |
| 17       | Ladakh                              |                  193 |                        186 |                                         7 |
| 18       | Lakshadweep                         |                   10 |                          7 |                                         3 |
| 19       | Madhya Pradesh                      |                22791 |                      15783 |                                      7008 |
| 20       | Maharashtra*                        |                27882 |                      19354 |                                      8528 |
| 21       | Manipur                             |                 2785 |                       1436 |                                      1349 |
| 22       | Meghalaya                           |                 1790 |                        598 |                                      1192 |
| 23       | Mizoram                             |                  763 |                        446 |                                       317 |
| 24       | Nagaland                            |                  994 |                        223 |                                       771 |
| 25       | Odisha*                             |                 6817 |                       5913 |                                       904 |
| 26       | Puducherry                          |                  108 |                         98 |                                        10 |
| 27       | Punjab                              |                13262 |                      12665 |                                       597 |
| 28       | Rajasthan                           |                11341 |                       8760 |                                      2581 |
| 29       | Sikkim                              |                  186 |                         22 |                                       164 |
| 30       | Tamil Nadu*$                        |                12520 |                          0 |                                     12520 |
| 31       | Telangana*                          |                12769 |                       4187 |                                      8582 |
| 32       | Tripura                             |                 1021 |                        711 |                                       310 |
| 33       | Uttar Pradesh                       |                58710 |                      31633 |                                     27077 |
| 34       | Uttarakhand                         |                 7791 |                       1616 |                                      6175 |
| 35       | West Bengal                         |                 3340 |                       2262 |                                      1078 |
| Total    | Total                               |               262825 |                     157919 |                                    104906 |

Note:

Delhi has no GPs and thus not taken up under BharatNet Project.

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