Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot on Saturday said that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was keen to strengthen its service in an effective manner to extend the benefit of telecom revolution to the masses.
To achieve this, the network would be expanded
in remote areas, including Naxalite-affected and bordering districts, which would eventually help in strengthening internal security, he said.
As for the launch of much-awaited Wimax and IPTV services in the state capital, Pilot said ‘steps were underway to get them going soon.’ The Centre was keen to ensure that nobody should be left untouched by the telecom revolution in country, he added.
Pilot, who reviewed the works undertaken by BSNL in the state, said that he wanted to make the services more effective and customer-friendly. ‘Our goal is to reach people living in far-flung areas. We have set a target of adding eight lakh new mobile consumers in 2009-2010,’ he said.
The BSNL, once a monopoly service provider, was now operating in a competitive environment. ‘And nothing but good service would keep it in good health. As such, over 2000 mobile towers would be set up in the next two years to improve coverage and provide seamless connectivity to users,’ Pilot said.
With the relaxation in norms for expanding coverage in bordering districts of Nepal and Bangladesh, the BSNL has decided to set up 130 towers in East and West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Kishanganj and Araria while 106 towers would be put up in Naxalite affected districts of Aurangabad, Gaya, Rohtas, Jehanabad and Jamui.
‘We have decided to install generators to cut downtime due to power shortage that has been taking a toll on the functioning of 75 per cent of our exchanges and 45 per cent of the total BSNL towers,’ Pilot said.
Talking of Department of Posts, he said ‘1,790 educated unemployed youths would be work under a new job profile in the next two-three months. There would a 15-35 per cent increase in the salary of Grameen Dak Sewaks, who would also get an allowance for maintaining their bicycles.’
In line with the computerization and digitalization work, Nalanda and Aurangabad districts have been selected for launching the pilot project for e-governance in the state. ‘We plan to link all the 2.95 lakh panchayats with broadband services to remove bottlenecks in the way of getting land possession certificates and birth and death certificates, etc. in a transparent manner,’ the IT minister said.
Pilot also added that the state government should ensure that telecom and optical fibre cables were not cut indiscriminately and the PMC and concerned departments should compensate the loss of Rs. 50-100 crore suffered by the BSNL.
When his attention was drawn to the deprecating acronym for BSNL—Bhai Saheb Nahi Lagega—obviously perpetuated by angry consumers and private sector competitors, Pilot said ‘have my word, BSNL would henceforth stand for—Bhai Saheb Nischit Lagega.’