The Ministry of Communications on Wednesday said 6,658 gram panchayats had been made service ready under the BharatNet Phase II project in Tamil Nadu as on November 13. However, it did not specify as to how many broadband connections were issued.
Members T.R.V.S. Ramesh and M.K. Vishnu Prasad had asked in the Lok Sabha for the details of funds sanctioned, allocated, and used under the project in the State since its inception in 2021. They also sought details of the villages connected with the broadband facility so far;
In a written reply, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Limited (TANFINET) had been disbursed ₹689.52 crore of the total cost allocation of ₹1,815.31 crore since 2021 for the work. The total target is to cover 12,524 gram panchayats.
While the response was silent on the number of connections given in the service-ready gram panchayats, Ministry officials said barely any had been issued in the State so far.
In the reply, the Minister said the work was awarded under the State-led model to the Tamil Nadu State-Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The Quadripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on December 26, 2017.
However, the work was awarded by the SPV, TANFINET, in October 2021 for two packages: in March 2022 for one package; and in May 2022 for one package. “Under State-led model in Tamil Nadu total cost allocated was ₹1,815.31 crore out of which ₹689.52 crore has been disbursed to TANFINET, since 2021,” said the Minister.
“As per the Quadripartite MoU, the responsibility of utilisation of the network is with the Government of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
In May 2022, TANFINET had entered into a Master Service Agreement with Pace Digitek Infra Private Limited for the implementation of Package B of BharatNet Phase-II. Under the project the gram panchayats in the State are expected to be provided with a minimum scalable bandwidth of 1 Gbps. It has been divided into four packages and one system integrator per package and third-party agency appointed for the purpose.
The project is being implemented across the country in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the gram panchayats. The infrastructure created thereunder is a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to the service providers, and the same can be utilised to provide broadband services, such as Wi-Fi hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, leased lines, dark fibre, backhaul to mobile towers, etc. in the rural areas, according to the Central government.
