Lok Sabha Question No. 618 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-20
Subject: Spending on BharatNet Project
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Talari Rangaiah

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 618 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH  JULY, 2022

## SPENDING ON BHARATNET PROJECT

## 618. DR. TALARI RANGAIAH:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  spent  huge  amount  on  Bharatnet  Project  in  the  last  five years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, year wise and the state wise spendings;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  set  any  deadlines  to  connect  all  Gram  panchayats  in  the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c) BharatNet  project  is  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  to  provide  broadband connectivity to approximately 2.6 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. As per Cabinet approval  dated  30-06-2021,  the  scope  of  the  project  has  been  extended  up  to  all  inhabited villages beyond GPs. In last five years (2017-18 to 2021-22), a total of Rs. 22,676 crore has been disbursed upto 31.03.2022 under the BharatNet Project by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL). As per Union Budget 2022-23 announcement, all villages are expected to be connected through  optical  fiber  by  2025.  The  State/UT-wise  and  Year-wise  details  of  amount  disbursed under the BharatNet Project is given in Annexure-I.

## Annexure-I

Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (a)  to  (c)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  618  to  be answered on 20.07.2022

State/UT-wise and Year-wise details of Funds disbursed under the BharatNet Project

| S.No.   | Name of States/UT         | Rupees in crores   | Rupees in crores   | Rupees in crores   | Rupees in crores   | Rupees in crores   |
|---------|---------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| S.No.   | Name of States/UT         | 2017-18            | 2018-19            | 2019-20            | 2020-21            | 2021-22            |
| 1       | Andaman &Nicobar          | 0                  | 0                  | 13                 | 1                  | 11                 |
| 2       | Assam                     | 12                 | 32                 | 21                 | 13                 | 40                 |
| 3       | Bihar                     | 45                 | 182                | 370                | 333                | 66                 |
| 4       | Chandigarh                |                    |                    | 0.03               | 0                  | 0                  |
| 5       | Chhattisgarh              | 248                | 269                | 110                | 697                | 426                |
| 6       | Haryana                   | 151                | 59                 | 72                 | 16                 | 10                 |
| 7       | Jammu &Kashmir            | 4                  | 21                 | 55                 | 19                 | 100                |
| 8       | Karnataka                 | 274                | 160                | 143                | 68                 | 44                 |
| 9       | Kerala                    | 13                 | 13                 | 26                 | 8                  | 129                |
| 10      | Maharashtra               | 453                | 525                | 265                | 1475               | 414                |
| 11      | Madhya Pradesh            | 1276               | 524                | 348                | 479                | 59                 |
| 12      | Punjab                    | 13                 | 137                | 404                | 157                | 207                |
| 13      | Rajasthan                 | 159                | 162                | 207                | 259                | 85                 |
| 14      | Uttar Pradesh             | 1382               | 503                | 643                | 480                | 233                |
| 15      | Uttarakhand               | 4                  | 67                 | 30                 | 10                 | 49                 |
| 16      | West Bengal               | 96                 | 97                 | 51                 | 16                 | 5                  |
| 17      | Sikkim                    | 21                 | 8                  | 3                  | 0                  | 38                 |
| 18      | Puducherry                | 1                  | 1                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  |
| 19      | Arunachal Pradesh         | 14                 | 1                  | 22                 | 41                 | 5                  |
| 20      | Nagaland                  | 16                 | 0                  | 5                  | 30                 | -1                 |
| 21      | Manipur                   | 15                 | 9                  | 6                  | 13                 | 4                  |
| 22      | Mizoram                   | 12                 | 1                  | 2                  | 31                 | 5                  |
| 23      | Tripura                   | 17                 | 9                  | 8                  | 4                  | 2                  |
| 24      | Meghalaya                 | 20                 | 2                  | 7                  | 19                 | 41                 |
| 25      | Gujarat, D &N, Daman &Diu | 233                | 303                | 976                | 1067               | 215                |
| 26      | Lakshadweep               | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 10                 |
| 27      | Telangana                 | 113                | 39                 | 19                 | 263                | 1121               |
| 28      | Odisha                    | 47                 | 68                 | 160                | 311                | 181                |
| 29      | Jharkhand                 | 48                 | 122                | 76                 | 376                | 125                |
| 30      | Himachal Pradesh          | 1                  | 5                  | 28                 | 3                  | 6                  |
| 31      | Andhra Pradesh            | 85                 | 4                  | 170                | 186                | 107                |
| 32      | Tamilnadu                 | 111                | 0                  | 0                  | 39                 | 74                 |
| 33      | Ladakh                    | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 0                  | 1                  |
|         | Total                     | 4884               | 3325               | 4241               | 6416               | 3810               |

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