Lok Sabha Question No. 4610 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-29
Subject: Converting Railway Stations into Digital Centres
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Rama Devi, Navneet Ravi Rana, Locket Chatterjee, Ramesh Chander Kaushik, Ajay Kumar Mandal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4610

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.03.2023

## CONVERTING RAILWAY STATIONS INTO DIGITAL CENTRES

†4610. SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI:

SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA:

MS. LOCKET CHATTERJEE:

SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK:

SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether RailTel is converting railway stations into Digital Centres;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  RailTel  proposes  to  provide  free  Wi-Fi  facility  at  more railway stations throughout the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Railways proposes to make class 'B' railway stations throughout the country divyang-friendly;
- (f)  if  so,  the  details  of  the  stations  identified  for  the  purpose,  zonewise; and
- (g)  the funds spent to make Railways divyang-friendly during each of the last three years and the current year?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (d):    Indian  Railways  have  decided  to  provide  free  Wi-Fi  at  all railway stations except halt. So far, Wi-Fi facility has been provided at

6108  stations.  State-wise  list  is  appended.  The  provision  of  Wi-Fi  at stations  depends  upon  the  availability  of  Infrastructure  like  Optical Fiber Cable & Other resources.

(e)  to  (g):    Indian  Railways  is  committed  to  make  all  its  railway stations and trains accessible for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan)  as  part  of  'Sugamya  Bharat  Mission'.  Improvement/ augmentation  of  customer  amenities  including  those  for  differently abled  passengers  (Divyangjan)  at  Railway  stations  is  a  continuous process.

Expenditure incurred for customer Amenities during each of the last three years & current year is as under:

| Financial Year 2019-20   | ₹1903.10 cr.   |
|--------------------------|----------------|
| Financial Year 2020-21   | ₹2582.82 cr.   |
| Financial Year 2021-22   | ₹1995.77 cr.   |
| Financial Year 2022-23   | ₹1766.37 cr.   |
| Financial Year 2022-23   | ( till Feb'23) |

******

APPENDIX REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.4610  BY  SHRIMATI  RAMA  DEVI,  SHRIMATI  NAVNEET  RAVI RANA, MS. LOCKET CHATTERJEE, SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK AND SHRI  AJAY  KUMAR  MANDAL  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 29.03.2023  REGARDING  CONVERTING  RAILWAY  STATIONS  INTO  DIGITAL CENTRES

(a) to (d) : State-wise list of stations where Wi-Fi facility provided till date:-

| S.N.   | State/UT Name     |   No. of stations where Wi-Fi got installed under PPP |
|--------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh    |                                                   509 |
| 2      | Arunachal Pradesh |                                                     3 |
| 3      | Assam             |                                                   220 |
| 4      | Bihar             |                                                   393 |
| 5      | Chhattisgarh      |                                                   119 |
| 6      | Delhi             |                                                    26 |
| 7      | Goa               |                                                    19 |
| 8      | Gujarat           |                                                   335 |
| 9      | Haryana           |                                                   140 |
| 10     | Himachal Pradesh  |                                                    24 |
| 11     | Jammu & Kashmir   |                                                    28 |
| 12     | Jharkhand         |                                                   215 |
| 13     | Karnataka         |                                                   335 |
| 14     | Kerala            |                                                   120 |
| 15     | Madhya Pradesh    |                                                   408 |
| 16     | Maharashtra       |                                                   566 |
| 17     | Meghalaya         |                                                     1 |
| 18     | Mizoram           |                                                     1 |
| 19     | Nagaland          |                                                     3 |
| 20     | Odisha            |                                                   234 |
| 21     | Punjab            |                                                   151 |
| 22     | Rajasthan         |                                                   463 |
| 23     | Tamil Nadu        |                                                   415 |
| 24     | Telangana         |                                                    47 |
| 25     | Tripura           |                                                    20 |
| 26     | UT Chandigarh     |                                                     1 |
| 27     | UT Puducherry     |                                                     3 |
| 28     | Uttar Pradesh     |                                                   768 |
| 29     | Uttarakhand       |                                                    31 |
| 30     | West Bengal       |                                                   510 |
|        | Total             |                                                  6108 |