Bhubaneswar: To bolster application of information technology in governance, the state has decided to accelerate the process of providing internet connectivity to all blocks and Gram Panchayats (GPs) by May-end.
Reviewing the progress made on Bharat Net project here Wednesday, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has set the target and asked concerned officials to strictly meet the deadline.
“In today’s context, internet connectivity is a basic requirement for maintaining high growth rate in rural sector. It will help in empowering the citizens and also in capacity building besides adding to quality education and health services.
People can avail various services provided through online mode. GPs can also be connected through video conferencing,” Mahapatra said during the meeting.
It was also decided that all government offices— including the schools, medical facilities, banks and common service centres (CSCs) be connected with broadband connectivity.
The telemedicine centres and agriculture kiosks would be connected for facilitating healthcare, e-learning and profitable agri-commerce.
Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) secretary Manoj Kumar Mishra said with completion of the work, OCAC would be the chief bandwidth provider in remote areas of the state.
Mishra added that the groundlevel activities have been put on fast track mode. So far, 3,770 GPs and 175 blocks have been provided the connectivity under Phase-I.
The roadmap for connecting remaining blocks and GPs has already been rolled out under Phase-II.
The Phase-II work is being executed under the joint collaboration of Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) and Tarasoftm, he said.
“This infrastructure will bring all the GPs within the scope of SWAN network. Its dark fibers can also be hired to the telecom and internet service providers on commercial basis,” the secretary said.
The entire project is being implemented in two phases. In the first phase, 3,810 GPs and 181 blocks have been taken up, of which 3,770 GPs and 175 blocks in 18 districts have been connected.
The work for connecting 2,954 GPs and 133 blocks of 12 districts has been taken up under Phase-II. Under this phase, around 20,000 km of areal optical fiber is to be drawn; against which, drawing of 13,400 km of cable has been completed.
Out of the total 3,087 connection points ‘end to end testing’ have successfully been conducted in 1,630 points.
PNN
