2174 villages in state have mobile coverage: Union MoS
Source: Chronicle News Service / PIB

Chandel, June 26 2022: Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that 2174 villages in Manipur have been provided mobile coverage and the Telecom department has installed 349 new towers to facilitate further coverage.

The Union Minister informed this during his media address in Chandel on Sunday.

The Union Minister said that the 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 lot of 52 towers will be commissioned to augment the coverage.

In Manipur, 2174 out of total 2515 villages have been provided with mobile coverage, the remaining 341 uncovered villages have been proposed to be covered under USOF Project.

Department of Telecom has installed 349 new towers to facilitate further coverage.

Manipur has shown a growth of 62% of the internet users in last four years.

In Manipur, 325 Gram Panchayats which are spread in 7 districts have been connected through optical fibre under Bharatnet scheme, he said.

As far as aspirational district of Chandel is concerned, despite having challenging hilly terrain, 217 out of 266 villages in Chandel have mobile coverage.

The Department of Telecom plans to provide mobile coverage for remaining 49 villages in near future.

A total of 156 Gram Panchayats in Chandel has already been connected through satellite.

Rest will be connected in near future under Bharatnet PPP Project of Department of Telecom, Devusinh added.

The Union Minister further informed that 38,356 Sukanya Smriddhi accounts worth Rs 103.1 crore have been opened in post offices so far in Manipur.

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

PM Kisan Sanunan Nidhi beneficiaries from the state are receiving their benefits directly in their post office account through DBT, he said.

As far as the district of Chandel is concerned, it has 1096 Sukanya Smriddhi accounts and 14,346 IPPB accounts.

The district has done a total of 5,274 AePS transactions worth Rs 1.7 crore since the inception of the scheme.

Overall IPPB customers of Chandel Branch have received DBT worth 1.9 crore since inception.

Chandel received more than Rs 32 lakh DBT in 1645 accounts under PM Kisan Yojana, according to the Union Minister of State fbr Communications.

Kakching PO building project was sanctioned and the construction is under progress.

During the current financial year an amount of Rs 1 Crore is received for this project.

It is expected to be completed by March 2023.After completion, Kakching PO will provide state-of-the-art digital services to the people including that of IPPB, he further said.

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