The Chhattisgarh Government is in the process of setting up an ‘Infrastructure Information Corporation’ in the State.
The Government would soon get a Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for setting up the Corporation, officials stated.
The ‘Chhattisgarh Fiber Grid Project’ which would be taken up after setting up of the Corporation will involve taking optical fiber connectivity to villages and extending broadband to every home in the State of Chhattisgarh.
In order to lay a state-of-the-art, fiber optic network from State to the Village and to provide desired higher quality of service, the government has also proposed to hire services of a consultancy agency to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) for provision of internet connectivity to each village and each home through a state of art fiber network.
The State government’s vision also includes an on-demand availability of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps connection to every business that wants to accelerate their business using the internet and e-Commerce, officials stated.
To evaluate the existing Broadband infrastructure in Chhattisgarh including both Government and private sector agencies will identify existing connectivity gaps for providing connectivity up to village/habitation level and identify bottlenecks in designing high speed broadband backbone network solutions to bridge the identified gaps and bottlenecks .
The broadband architecture would ensure sufficient Bandwidth for Gram Panchayats as demand estimates, 10 to 20 Mbps connectivity to each Home and 100 Mbps to 1Gbps on demand for businesses, officials stated.
The selected consultant will also evaluate the existing Broadband infrastructure in Chhattisgarh including both Government and Private Sectors to identify existing connectivity gaps (Fiber availability, Network Hubs, Redundancy etc.) for providing connectivity up to village/habitation level and identify bottlenecks in designing high speed broadband backbone network solutions to bridge the identified gaps and bottlenecks as per goals set by the State government.
The basic intent of the Chhattisgarh Fiber Grid project is to establish a significantly independent network that is not constrained by the technological, geographical or organizational constraints of any existing networks or services, officials stated.
During the next three years, the State government is going to connect as many as 10000 village panchayats with broadband facility.
Notably, in July last year, Chief Minister Raman Singh had launched ‘Wi-fi City Project’ by ensuring secured Wi-fi facility at five public places in the city.
According to information received, CHiPS will soon equip Telibandha in Raipur and Civic Centre, Bhilai with Wi-fi facility.
To access internet facility from Wi-fi being provided by the Government, a person has to complete requisite formalities pertaining to identification through his/her smart phone or other gadgets equipped with Wi-fi following which a One Time Password (OTP) will be received on the gadget, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CHiPS Saurabh Kumar had informed, adding that the OTP will help the person to access the internet.
The State Higher Education Department is targetting to provide Wi-fi connectivity to around 106 Government colleges during the current financial year across the State.
The work for providing Wi-fi connectivity had already commenced in 50 college campuses.
Talking to The Pioneer last month, State Higher Education Minister Prem Prakash Pandey said, “As of now, 50 Government colleges have been selected on the basis of the strength of the students and internet connection availability. It is difficult to name the colleges. We hope to cover 106 Government colleges by the end of this financial year ending in the month of March.”
Notably, Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) had been assigned the task to provide Wi-fi connectivity of the 50 chosen colleges.