With remote and hilly areas of Uttarakhand still remaining deprived of basic services like electricity, the Central Government’s ambitious digital India campaign seems to have taken a back seat in the hill state. To lay the national optical fibre network for providing broadband connectivity at the village panchayat levels, different blocks are presently being identified in Uttarakhand.
Under this process, Champawat district’s lohaghat block has been identified to equip its different village panchayats with broadband connectivity. There are 65 village panchayats in lohaghat block with 65 panchayat buildings. But the Champawat district administration officials informed that none of the panchayat buildings are electrified.
Mention worthy, under this making India digital campaign, every village panchayat will have a centralised server room where the respective state governments have to put in places basic infrastructure, including electricity, computers and requisite man power while the Government of India- run BSNl has to provide connectivity.
But the matter of concern is that it is not just the hill areas like Champawat’s lohaghat block but many such village panchayats even in urban parts of the mountainous state which are running short of the basic services.
For instance, under the ongoing digital India process, the BSNl, Haldwani has already equipped about 70 village panchayats in urban areas like Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts with connectivity.
However, these about 70 gram panchayats are also experiencing similar problems of basic infrastructures which have to be provided by the State Government. The interesting fact is that the digitization process has to be completed by 2017.
There are a total 769 gram panchayats in both Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts out of which we have chosen 388 to be equipped with fibre cable network in the first phase, said the BSNl Haldwani division officials. But other basic infrastructure like computers and manpower, has to be provided by the state government.
When asked about poor state of electricity supply in remote areas of the hill state, the BNSl, Haldwani officials said solar energy would be used to digitise the those village panchayats which are now going without power.