Lok Sabha Question No. 30 (STARRED), answered on 2024-11-27
Subject: Universal Service Obligation Fund
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Shri Haribhai Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 30 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH  NOVEMBER, 2024

## UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION FUND

## *30 SHRI HARIBHAI PATEL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state :

- (a) whether a number of areas remained uncovered under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) project in Gujarat and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  any  project  proposals  are  pending  with  the  Government  for  Gujarat  for  these uncovered areas;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the number of projects under USOF sanctioned by the Government during the last three years;
- (e) whether the Government also plans to upgrade the existing BSNL services using the funds and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the State-wise details  of  funds disbursed  from  the  budget for  USOF during the  last three years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION (SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)

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

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 30 FOR 27 TH  NOVEMBER, 2024 REGARDING 'UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION FUND.'

(a) to (c) A number of projects have been taken up with funding from Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) (erstwhile USOF), Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide coverage to remote and uncovered areas in Gujarat. The details are as below:

- (i) The BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country, including Gujarat. In Gujarat  state,  under  BharatNet  Phase-I  and  Phase-II,  14,316  GPs  out  of  the  total planned  14,320  GPs  in  the  state  have  been  made  service  ready  by  providing OFC/Satellite Connection.
- (ii) Various  DBN  funded  mobile  projects  for  providing  4G  coverage  to  uncovered villages in Gujarat State are under implementation. These projects are(i) 4G saturation Project; (ii) Border Out Posts (BOP)/ Border Intelligence Posts (BIP); and (iii) 354 Border Villages. Out of 905 villages, proposed to be covered under these schemes, as of Oct-2024, 524 villages have been covered.

(d) & (e) The number of projects under DBN, sanctioned by the Government during the last three years, are as given below:

|   S.N. | Scheme                                            |
|--------|---------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | 502 Aspirational Districts                        |
|      2 | Uncovered villages &NHof Andaman &Nicobar Islands |
|      3 | Left Wing Extremism Phase-II                      |
|      4 | Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts of Assam        |
|      5 | 7287 Aspirational Districts                       |
|      6 | 4G Saturation                                     |
|      7 | BOP/BIP scheme                                    |
|      8 | Lakshadweep Islands                               |
|      9 | Left Wing Extremism Phase-I Upgradation           |
|     10 | Amended BharatNet Program                         |

These projects include upgradation of existing BSNL services as well.

## (f) The State-wise details of funds disbursed from the budget for DBN during the last three years is as follows:

(Rupees in crore)

|   Sl. No. | Name of States/ UT      |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |   2024-25 (Till Sept 2024) |
|-----------|-------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|----------------------------|
|         1 | Andaman Nicobar Islands |     86.02 |     54.43 |     38.36 |                      45.88 |
|         2 | Andhra Pradesh          |    128.55 |    806.64 |    682.28 |                     204.9  |
|         3 | Assam                   |     32.74 |     52.83 |    247.92 |                      50.42 |
|         4 | Bihar                   |    131.41 |    132.78 |    215.62 |                      70.57 |

| Sl. No.   | Name of States/ UT                           | 2021-22   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2024-25 (Till Sept 2024)   |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|----------------------------|
| 5         | Chandigarh                                   | -         | 0.77      | -         | 0.13                       |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh                                 | 486.92    | 786.54    | 296.85    | 168.47                     |
| 7         | Gujarat, Dadara and Nagar Haveli             | 200.17    | 440.42    | 390.89    | 142.88                     |
| 8         | Haryana                                      | 30.61     | 70.87     | 36.60     | 42.70                      |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh                             | 10.61     | 17.51     | 192.60    | 33.03                      |
| 10        | Jammu and Kashmir                            | 15.91     | 115.05    | 153.58    | 117.87                     |
| 11        | Jharkhand                                    | 218.78    | 165.22    | 398.62    | 153.66                     |
| 12        | Karnataka                                    | 94.53     | 198.62    | 241.96    | 107.58                     |
| 13        | Kerala                                       | 39.70     | 41.81     | 62.05     | 130.12                     |
| 14        | Lakshadweep                                  | 150.44    | 77.84     | 663.73    | 3.81                       |
| 15        | Ladakh                                       | 0.69      | -         | 42.18     | -                          |
| 16        | Maharashtra (including Goa)                  | 511.37    | 547.60    | 1,549.49  | 397.71                     |
| 17        | Madhya Pradesh                               | 78.46     | 367.16    | 408.50    | 170.36                     |
| 18        | NE-I (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura)           | 14.31     | 153.98    | 154.98    | 66.40                      |
| 19        | NE-II (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland) | 27.51     | 166.84    | 435.42    | 137.95                     |
| 20        | Odisha                                       | 261.41    | 370.21    | 572.68    | 383.95                     |
| 21        | Punjab                                       | 106.27    | 112.29    | 100.85    | 82.73                      |
| 22        | Puducherry                                   | -         | -         | -         | 1.40                       |
| 23        | Rajasthan                                    | 132.13    | 464.33    | 332.05    | 209.75                     |
| 24        | Tamil Nadu                                   | 74.92     | 107.54    | 554.14    | 310.50                     |
| 25        | Telangana                                    | 1,143.09  | 63.39     | 464.14    | 11.01                      |
| 26        | Uttar Pradesh                                | 258.61    | 429.03    | 305.27    | 89.36                      |
| 27        | Uttarakhand                                  | 9.62      | 52.98     | 155.15    | 98.91                      |
| 28        | West Bengal (including Sikkim)               | 95.34     | 117.24    | 95.26     | 46.60                      |
|           | Grand Total                                  | 4,340.12  | 5,913.92  | 8,791.17  | 3,278.66                   |

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