Sambalpur: The much hyped ‘Digital India’ seems a distant dream in Sambalpur district as mobile phone and Internet services are available only in urban areas and has not yet penetrated into rural pockets.
District sources said that about 379 villages out of 1313 villages in the district have no Internet.
On the other hand, the report of the electronics and information technology (E & IT) department said the number of villages with no Internet comes to 543 including 164 villages more.
The government has ordered one more survey with to ascertain the exact position.
The Centre has emphasised on providing Internet connections to all villages including at the earliest, as more than 50 per cent of government and non-government schemes are conducted through e-governance these days.
Services like, Awas, various allowances, different certificates are provided through the Net. The latest is e-mutation.
So it is a matter of concern that around 1/3 of the rural population is deprived of these services due to lack of Internet service.
Mo mobile signal is available in nine villages in Govindpur police station (PS) area, 14 villages in Mahulpali PS, 21 villages in Kuchinda PS, one in Sasan PS, 28 villages in Jamankira PS, 4 villages in Kisinda PS, 5 villages in Jujumura PS, 4 villages in Dhama PS, 30 villages in Charmal PS, 36 villages in Redhakhol PS and 8 villages in Naktideul PS area, in Sambalpur district as per the available data.