India News | Telecom Minister Reviews Bharatnet Implementation

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday reviewed implementation of rural broadband network project Bharatnet along with Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan.

"Reviewed the performance of Bharatnet project along with my colleague Sh.@devusinh Ji for expediting its implementation in rural parts of the country, with Secretary Telecom and other senior officers," Vaishnaw said in a tweet.

He took charge as communications minister on July 8, a week after the Union Cabinet approved public private partnership mode for the rollout of the BharatNet project for broadband services in villages in 16 states with viability gap funding of Rs 19,041 crore.

The decision to involve private players was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15 last year that around six lakh villages in the country will be connected with broadband in 1,000 days.

The 16 states are -- Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

As on June 30, 1.56 lakh out of the 2.5 lakh village panchayats have been connected with broadband.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)