BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Centre stepped up investments to expand mobile connectivity in Odisha, especially in unconnected, remote and Left-wing Extremism (LWE) affected pockets, slow execution by selected telecom service providers has left thousands of villages in several districts without network coverage.
In 2021, the centre had sanctioned `3,200 crore under the then universal service obligation fund (USOF), now Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), for installation of 2,379 new mobile towers in 3,933 uncovered villages in 10 aspirational districts of Balangir, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Rayagada.
Besides, `421.66 crore was allotted for 483 more mobile towers in nine districts of the state under LWE project phase-II. Even after four years, 1,921 villages of the total 51,349 villages in the state are without any mobile connectivity.
Sources said under the LWE-II project executed by Reliance Jio (RJIO), while tower erection has seen a marginal increase, site radiation remains extremely slow. The situation under the aspirational districts project was equally concerning. RJIO has radiated 1,676 sites so far, adding just 17 new sites since mid-November last year.
Similarly, BSNL has added only 75 new sites in last two months though it was supposed to activate all its towers installed under the 4G saturation project. The total number of activated sites stood at 1,211 as compared to 1,730 towers erected so far.
While the telecom service providers attributed the delay in execution of projects to land acquisition issues for installation of towers and power connectivity, district authorities highlighted that road access, bridge construction, forest clearances and power connections remain the biggest hurdles.
In Kandhamal, while several aspirational sites have been resolved or proposed for dropping due to low habitation, multiple locations still require road and bridge construction proposals pending with the Rural Development department. Similar issues persist across Rayagada, Kalahandi, Gajapati and Koraput, where access to roads, bridges and even alternate site identification are delaying tower installation.
Forest clearances emerged a major bottleneck in districts such as Gajapati, Nuapada, Nayagarh and Boudh, with several proposals pending with the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) or under the Forest Conservation Act and Forest Rights Act. In mining-affected areas of Kalahandi and Rayagada, some villages have been shifted, prompting the administration to drop proposals at certain sites.
This issue cropped up at a recent high-level review meeting on DBN-funded telecom projects. Principal secretary of Electronics and IT Vishal Kumar Dev expressed displeasure over lack of progress despite assurances from district administrations that issues delaying the project would be resolved by December. He said, if required, the matter will be taken up with RJIO’s CEO.
“RJIO has committed to commissioning and radiating 110 sites by the end of January and completing the remaining sites by February. BSNL has also assured that all remaining sites will be commissioned by March,” said an IT department official.