Gujarat leads with OFB connectivity to 99.89% gram panchayats: Minister

Gandhinagar: Speaking in the State Assembly, minister Praful Panseria today stated that Rs. 228 crore allocation has been made in the current annual budget for digital connectivity in the State.

The minister said – Bharatnet aims to connect over 2.5 lakh villages of India through optical fiber cable and create the world’s largest rural broadband network. The Government of India has executed Bharatnet Project Phase – 1 in Gujarat, hile phase – 2 is being executed by the Government of Gujarat arm “Gujarat Fiber Greed Network Ltd.”

Under phase – 2, 7980 gram panchayat, taluka centers, and district centers are connected with 100 MBPS internet connection, which is expandable upto 1 GBPS in the future. Under the phase-2 project, over 35,000 km long underground cables are laid.

Bharatnet-2 execution is being done through a State-led model in 9 states. Gujarat is the leading state with optical fiber cable connectivity to 99.89 per cent gram panchayats. At present 321 services of 11 departments are available through more than 14,000 gram panchayats. It has facilitated the clearance of applications of over 1.15 crore citizens.

The government has aimed to provide 1.20 lakh fiber-to-home connections in 2023-24 in Gujarat for which Rs. 120 crore provision has been made in the budget, the minister said. DeshGujarat