Lok Sabha Question No. 235 (STARRED), answered on 2021-08-04
Subject: Implementation of BharatNet Project
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Arjunlal Meena, Manoj Kumar Tiwari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 235 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  AUGUST, 2021

## IMPLEMENTATION OF BHARATNET PROJECT

## 235.   SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA: SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether  the  Government  has  been  facing  difficulties  in  the  implementation  of BharatNet Project to achieve the set targets and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the  number  of  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  in  the  States  of  Uttar  Pradesh,  Jharkhand, Odisha  and Rajasthan especially in the district of Udaipur  and the Parliamentary constituency of Pali that are deprived of broadband connectivity; and

(c) the GPs in the country, State/UT-wise including of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Rajasthan,  identified  by  the  Government  for  extending  broadband  services  under  the said project and the time by when the same is likely to be completed by the Government?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS & ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 235 FOR 4 TH AUGUST, 2021 REGARDING 'IMPLEMENTATION OF BHARATNET PROJECT'

(a) BharatNet  project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  to  provide  broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. As on 09.07.2021, a total number of 1,57,919 Gram Panchayats have been made Service Ready in the country. The scope of BharatNet has been recently extended upto all inhabited villages beyond GPs.

The implementation of the project is affected mainly on account of:

- (i) GPs  are  widely  dispersed  across  remote  corners  of  the  country,  covering difficult terrains (including Hilly/ Rocky) and also difficulty for access in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas;
- (ii) Phase-I  of  the  project  began  only  in  the  second  half  of  2014  due  to  field survey of GPs and pilot testing of the technology model.
- (iii) In Phase-I, only one media (i.e. is underground Optical Fibre Cable) has been used to cover GPs, and Right of Way  (RoW)  issues impacted the implementation.
- (iv) Under BharatNet Phase-II, about 65,000 GPs in 8 States are being implemented by the State Government under State-led model. The implementation  of  the  same  is  not  meeting  the  targeted  time-lines  and  is adversely affecting the completion of the Project.
- (v) Since  March  2020,  pursuant  to  lockdown  and  movement  restrictions  due  to COVID-19, the progress of the project has been adversely affected.

(b) & (c) The  State/UT-wise  details  of  the  planned  GPs,  Service  Ready  GPs,  and  the GPs  which  are  yet  to  be  made  Service  Ready  in  the  country  (including  Uttar  Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Rajasthan) under BharatNet project, are given in Annexure-I . As on 09.07.2021,  total  195  GPs  in  the  District  of  Udaipur  and  36  GPs  in  the  Parliamentary constituency of  Pali are yet to be made Service Ready under BharatNet project. The targeted date for completion of the BharatNet project in the country is August, 2023.

Annexure  referred  to  in  Parts  (b)  &  (c)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Starred  Question  No.  235  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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