Mobile network covers 2174 villages: Union MoS
Source: The Sangai Express / PIB

Imphal, June 26 2022: Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has stated that 2174 villages out of the total 2515 villages have been brought under mobile (phone) coverage and the remaining 341 villages have been proposed to be covered under USOF Project.

Devusinh Chauhan who is on a two-day visit to the State told media persons that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central Government has always been committed to development of the North Eastern region.

Several schemes and initiatives have been launched to develop the region.

Better and faster Railways connectivity, Indradhanush Gas Grid to provide green fuel, enhanced air connectivity by building new airports, inland waterways connectivity with Kolkata/Haldia, connectivity of the National Highways, Krishi Udaan Scheme, Hydro Power Projects and mobile network/internet coverage are some of the steps taken by the Government, he said.

The spectrum auction for starting the 5G mobile services has already been approved.

The process is likely to be completed in the month of August, 2022 which will facilitate the 5G rollout in the same month.

It will revolutionize the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) scenario in the country and it will play a large role towards achieving the 5 trillion-dollar economy, the Union MoS asserted.

Ministry of Communications has made several schemes to provide state of the art telecommunications facilities in North Eastern region.

Out of 42,996 inhabited villages in the North Eastern region, 38,455 have already been covered.

Under the USOF scheme, additional 1632 towers have been commissioned.

Another 52 towers will be commissioned to augment the coverage, he assured.

Devusinh Chauhan said that Department of Telecom has installed 349 new towers to facilitate further coverage in Manipur and the State has shown a growth of 62 per cent in terms of the number of internet users in the last four years.

Altogether 325 Gram Panchayats of the State which are spread in seven districts have been connected through optical fibre under Bharatnet scheme.

India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) has been operating a total of 10.97 lakhs accounts with deposit balance of Rs 71.27 crore in the North Eastern region.

Recently, IPPB has started providing advanced baking services like mobile banking and UPI payment system.

49 Post Office ATMs are functional in the region.

Out of total 888 post offices, 883 have core banking solution.

3394 Common Service Centers (CSCs) have been opened by the Department of Posts throughout entire North Eastern region.

Services like birth certificate, passport, Aadhar card, PAN card, driving License, admit card, application form, pension applications, ITR filing, electricity bill payment, train/airlines tickets etc can easily be availed on these centers in rural areas.

In Manipur, 38,356 Sukanya Smriddhi accounts worth Rs 103.1 crore have been opened in post offices so far.

The State has 2,42,897 accounts in IPPB, second largest in the NE Region after Assam.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi beneficiaries from the State are receiving their benefits directly in their post office account through DBT, according to the Union MoS Communications.

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