Ridiculing the Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s statement that Wi-Fi service would be made available at Char Dhams in next six months, Chief Minister’s media advisor Surendra Kumar said on Tuesday that the Union Minister was blissfully unaware of the fact that Kedarnath has been enjoying the service for well over one year.
“Even BSNl is using the State Government’s service after the State installed video conferencing, surveillance, hotspot and Wi-Fi service in April 2015 while using their own resources,” he said. Taking a sarcastic dig at State BJP, he said that they had not cared to brief the Union Minister as theireyes all fixed on election.
“The Minister was goaded to take credit for something which is already in place,” he said. He mocked at the Minister’s announcement, saying that the shrines would be closed during the time the Minister has vowed to bestow on them the Wi-Fi service.
Kumar further mentioned that Wi-Fi service is functional in Nainital and Mussoorie too. “Besides, the State’s 50 percent gram Panchayats are now enjoying broadband service. However, the border areas are suffering due to the broadband service remaining unavailable there,” the CM’s close aide said.
He further said that the progress of the much-hyped Digital India programme meant to connect gram panchayats with broadband service was very poor in Uttarakhand.
“The State BJP leadership should have drawn the Minister’s attention to the connectivity problem several areas of the state have been facing. Instead, they made the minister jockey for an already existing service, thus reducing him to a butt of joke,” he said.