6,099 villages in Odisha do not have mobile, internet connectivity
By Kishore Mohapatra
Bhubaneswar, Feb. 5: This is a hard reality. Odisha has 6,099 villages that lack mobile phone connectivity and internet services, the highest in the country, revealed data recently shared in the Lok Sabha by the Union ministry of telecommunications.
Odisha is followed by Madhya Pradesh which has 2,612 villages without mobile network and internet connectivity. The other states which have more than one thousand villages without the digital connectivity include Maharashtra (2,328) and Arunachal Pradesh (2,223), Chhattisgarh (1,847), Andhra Pradesh (1,787), Meghalaya (1,674) and Jharkhand (1,144).
However, states like Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Haryana have achieved near total penetration of mobile services in all villages.
The Union ministry said, out of total 5, 97,618 inhabited villages across the country, 25,067 villages lack mobile connectivity and internet. As per official data, this makes up only about four per cent of villages that lack mobile connection services.
In 2002, Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) scheme was launched to provide mobile connectivity in uncovered villages and make non-discriminatory access to ICT (Information services affordable to people in remote areas. However, about 43 per cent or 11,000 villages included in USOF remain without Internet connectivity.
Earlier on November 17 last year, the Union Cabinet had approved the scheme for about 3,933 uncovered villages in Odisha to provide high-speed mobile and internet connectivity. The villages belong to 10 ‘aspirational’ districts– Kandhamal, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Gajapati, Koraput, Malkangiri, Balangir and Dhenkanal.
Overall, the scheme was approved to provide 4G mobile services in total 7,287 uncovered villages of 44 aspirational districts across five states–Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra– at a cost of Rs 6,466 crore. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had then stated that the project would be completed within 18 months after the signing of the agreement.
Lack of mobile and internet connectivity has become a major issue in the ongoing rural poll campaign in Odisha with people in several villages threatening to not to cast their ballots to register their protest.
