483 more towers in 18 Red-hit dists

Also Read

Single-window clearance for Durga Puja committees

1 hour ago

OSEPA–OUAT partnership to boost vocational education

2 hours ago

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of 483 new mobile towers in Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-hit areas of the state to boost mobile connectivity for civilians as well as for security forces, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) scheme to set up 4,072 towers across the country, including 483 in Odisha spreading over 18 Naxal-affected districts in the state, the ministry said here Wednesday.
It said that the network would be utilised by the security personnel deployed in the Home Ministry-identified Naxal-affected areas of the state. These mobile towers, according to the ministry, will also provide mobile services to the residents in unconnected inhabited villages and help improve the economic activities in the region. It will give impetus to the e-governance activities in the backward and LWE-affected areas, the ministry added.
The ministry, in consultation with the LWE-hit states concerned, had identified 4,072 tower locations for the communication need of the security personnel deployed in 96 districts of 10 states and provided the information to the Department of Telecom October 27, 2017.
The Union government has claimed that the technology proposed in the Phase-ll projects has been upgraded according to the requirement of stakeholders. Now 2G and 4G technologies are being deployed in this project for mobile connectivity.