The first of the below the poverty line (BPL) families in the State are set to get free Internet connections under the State government’s ambitious KFON project in May this year. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post that 100 BPL families in each of the 140 Assembly constituencies will get free Internet connection in the initial stage.
The KFON project aims at providing such connections to 20 lakh households in the State, in a bid to ensure universal Internet access and address the problem of digital divide, which has now become especially acute after the COVID-19 outbreak. The previous Left Democratic Front Government had declared Internet connection as a basic right, when the ₹1,548-crore KFON project was launched in 2019. But, the project, earlier scheduled to be completed in December 2020, has been delayed due to the pandemic and the delay in getting right of way permissions for cabling from various departments.
