The Chhattisgarh Government is gearing up for aggressive implementation of the second phase of BharatNet project in the State, officials informed.

It will soon hire a Project Support Consultant for implementation of the BharatNet Phase-II project , they informed.

Notably, the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS), the nodal agency of Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Chhattisgarh is getting a route survey and Right of Way (RoW) clearance done for Bharat Net Phase-II project in the State, officials informed.

Notably, Bharat Net is a project initiated by the Central Government and funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) with an aim to provide broadband connectivity to over two lakh fifty thousand (250,000) Gram Panchayats of India.

The project aims to provide internet access using Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and extending it to the Gram Panchayats (GPs). The project is intended to enable the Central Government to provide e-services and e-applications nationally, transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy is the most critical and important action item for Digital India.

The Bharat Net project is of national importance, with a highly scalable network infrastructure to provide on demand, easily affordable broadband internet connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps for all households and on demand capacity to all institutions, to realize the vision of Digital India, in partnership with the states and the private sector, officials informed.

The Chhattisgarh Government on December 30 last year had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with the Centre for the implementation of second phase of BharatNet project .

Chief Minister  Raman Singh had stated that Chhattisgarh is entering a new era of 'Digital Revolution'.

The Chief Minister  was addressing a function after signing of MoU of Bharat Net Project in Naya Raipur between the State Government and Central Government.

Union Minister of State for Communication Manoj Sinha was the chief guest on the occasion.

Singh said that Bharat Net Project will bridge the 'Digital Divide' between the rural and urban regions as 85 development blocks and 5987 gram panchayats will be connected with optical fiber network. Total investment will be about Rs 1624 crore.

At present work is in progress to link about 4,000 gram panchayats with optical fiber network.

The Chief Minister said that the priorities of the so-called backward regions like Abhujmargh have also changed. The residents are demanding mobile connectivity along with roads, schools and hospitals.