The Government, which faced a major setback as the recent Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh wiped out Congress leadership in the State, on Tuesday decided to install mobile towers at 2,199 locations in nine States affected with Naxal menace to improve the communication system at a cost of Rs 3,046 crore.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the Cabinet accepted the long pending demand of Home Ministry and approved setting up of mobile towers in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, UP and West Bengal at locations identified by the Ministry.
The strengthened telecom network will result in increase in penetration of mobile connectivity in the country, especially left wing terrorism affected areas and other areas facing security challenges. This will result in affordable and equitable access of communication, information and governance in these Naxal affected areas.
The project would be executed by BSNl which has already installed towers at 363 locations. Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) would fund it for 5 years. Installation and roll out in these areas is targeted to be completed in 12 months after amendment in the Indian Telegraph Rules and signing of agreement with BSNl which will take about three months, he said.