Uttarakhand

• 30 May 2023

Free WiFi through Fiber to Home Connection in 1114 Villages of the State

Why in News?

• On 29 May 2023, the Director of Uttarakhand Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) Nitika Khandelwal said that a free WiFi facility will soon be available in all government offices and bodies of 1114 gram panchayats of the state. For this, an agreement has been signed between the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) and BSNL.

Key Points:

• ITDA Director Nitika Khandelwal said that an agreement has been signed with BSNL for this Rs 50 crore project.
• Under this, 3090 Fiber to the Home (FTTH) connections will be given. Also, BSNL will take care of their maintenance for the next five years.
• It is worth mentioning that last year the government released a budget of 50 crores for the FTTH scheme, but the work could not be started on time. To avoid a budget lapse after 31 March, the government has given this budget again this year.
• Under this scheme, BSNL will provide FTTS service in 1114-gram panchayats of the state. Under its ambit, all the government institutions coming under that Gram Panchayat will be included till the Panchayat Ghar. Free WiFi facilities will be available at all these places.
• It may be noted that the gram panchayats in which the work of laying optical fiber cable was given to BSNL under Bharat Net-1, were not able to complete it within the stipulated time.