While the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is ready with Cabinet proposal for granting subsidy to BSNl from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for providing mobile telephony in left-Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas which pose threat to internal security of the country, Ministry of Finance has raised a serious objection regarding the reputation of the BSNl to carry out the task.
The Finance Ministry has warned that "the BSNl has been entrusted with many tasks like providing connectivity to the remote areas, common service centres, huge work related to National Optical Fibre Network. Their capacity seems to be over-stretched and the BSNl has acquired a reputation for large delays in execution and shoddy performance. There is a possibility that the BSNl will be executing even the present work by sub-contracting. In which case, there can be very little reason for assigning the work to the BSNl on nomination basis."
The DoT has proposed installing towers in the Naxal-hit areas through State-run BSNl on nomination basis without floating any open tender by using the USOF.
Against the backdrop of recent killings of 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, in Chattisgarh by Maoists, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said that he would soon be taking the proposal to the Cabinet which entails Rs 3046.12 crore for the BSNl from USOF to set up 2,199 mobile towers in such zones.
According to the proposal, the BSNl will erect 2,199 towers across the nine Naxal-affected States - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. These areas do not have mobile coverage. Keeping in view the security aspects of the towers to be installed in lWE areas, in the first phase, the towers will be erected in the nearest vicinity of police stations or Central Reserve Police Force camps, the note says.
The proposal also says that the BSNl will provide services not only for security forces but general public also.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, however, has come out in support of the BSNl, saying that, "If providing services in these areas was a viable proposition, these areas would have been already covered by the mobile operators. There can be no doubt that services in these areas will not be viable and will require subsidy. It is also clear that constructing mobile phone towers here will be risky. This will require co-ordination with security forces and the BSNl would be in the best position to do it."
However, the MHA has said that some existing towers in the lWE areas remain shut for long periods due to non-availability of diesel to run the generators. Hence, sufficient monitoring mechanism may be put in place to deliver better services. To this, DoT has assured that the solution would be based on renewable energy like solar at all locations and hence diesel sets may not be required. Out of the proposed 2,199 towers, the BSNl has already erected 363 towers in these areas.