Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Minister of Electronics &IT, Communications and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on August 10, 2020, informed that a tender for 354 uncovered villages in the strategic, remote and border areas of the country has been finalised and is under implementation in 144 villages of the the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and remaining villages in the States of Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other priority areas of Gujarat.
These villages have been strategically choosen to cover border area connectivity on mobile. After commissioning of these villages, there will be no uncovered villages in UTs of J&K, Ladakh for mobile connectivity. Satellite based DSPTs (Digital Satellite Phone Terminal) are also being provided at 1,347 sites for Army, BRO, BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB etc of which 183 sites have already commissioned and remaining are in process, according to a PIB release.
Prasad said that Government of India has been taking measures on priority to provide connectivity in the far flung, difficult, border areas of strategic importance, to ensure better quality of life to the people as well as to those who are working in these areas. He was speaking to media on August 10 after the inauguration of a submarine Optical Fiber Cable of length of 2,300 km between Chennai and Andaman Nicobar at a cost of Rs.1,224 crore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.