Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 28: In response to a request by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who also happens to be the Member of Lok Sabha from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda constituency, the Union Minister for Communication & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has formally conveyed that there are 58 villages in Kishtwar district which did not have Mobile (2G) service, but the Government hopes to finalize a plan by the end of this financial year to provide voice connectivity in all these areas.
The assurance from the Union Communication Minister came after four months of constant follow-up by Dr Jitendra Singh which began with a written communique from him dated August 29, 2014 regarding lack of telecommunication facility in inaccessible villages of Marwah, Warman and Dachhan areas of Kishtwar.The communique was based on the data collected and compiled by prominent BJP leader and MLA Kishtwar, Sunil Sharma.
After thorough examination of the matter by the Union Ministry of Communication & IT, it was concluded that in District Kishtwar, there were as many as 58 villages which did not have mobile connectivity. The Ministry has accordingly asked the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to prepare a plan to establish voice connectivity in all uncovered villages in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, including in district of Kishtwar.
The Ministry expects the plan to be finalized in respect of border areas and hilly States by the end of this financial year. Ravi Shankar Prasad also assured Dr Jitendra Singh that the Government of India will leave no stone unturned to provide good quality telecom service in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
Expressing satisfaction over the Union Communication Minister’s positive response, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was hard to imagine for people living in metropolis that even in today’s hi-tech age and time, there were vast areas in the country where telephone services were not available. He said, this anomaly had always weighed heavily on his mind and he had personally also suffered the constraints of lack of connectivity whenever he visited the remote areas in his constituency, particularly when he had to stay there for several days at a stretch during the election campaign.
With development and equitable distribution of resources among different regions of the State being high on the agenda of the Narendra Modi Government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, people living in far-flung remote areas will at last have an opportunity to be the beneficiaries of some of the progressive dividends available to the rest of the countrymen.
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