BENGALURU:If all goes as planned, Badagandi village in Bagalkot district will become the first ‘Smart Village’ in the state.
Within two months, residents of the village will have access to free wi-fi as part of the initiative.
Disclosing this, IT and BT Minister S R Patil said work has already started. “It is not funded by the state government. It is an experiment I have taken up with my own funds at Badagandi, where I was born,” the minister said.
The village has a population of about 2,000. “One member from each family is being trained at the Bapuji International School in the village, with the help of Intel, a multinational technology company,” he said.
Apart from the funds invested by the minister, Intel is using funds from its Corporate Social Responsibility corpus to train the residents. Training on using computers at the school is being held in the morning and evening from November 2 to 20. The villagers are eagerly participating in the exercise, Patil said. After some of the residents are trained, they will act as resource persons to train the others.
Patil said the process of installing optical fibre cables to ensure seamless internet connectivity is already under way. “The work will be completed in the next two months and people will be able to use internet for free,” he said.
The service provider, who was behind installing wi-fi hotspots in Bengaluru, will also install the facility in the village, the minister added.
Apart from this, the smart village will also maintain data online, regarding the health of all individuals, and will also employ nano-technology tools to purify water. IT and BT Department sources said the skepticism on whether the villages could access the internet is ill-founded. People access WhatsApp and Facebook using phones even in Badagandi. “By training and providing free wi-fi, we will encourage them to access government sites to avail various services, without having to run from pillar to post,” a source said.
SMART ROUTE