VIJAYAWADA : Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday virtually launched 300 4G mobile cell towers in remote tribal areas of Alluri Sitarama Raju and Parvathipuram Manyam districts, taking the total number in remote areas across the State to 400.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the new cell towers will provide mobile communication facilities in remote areas where there was no connectivity so far. Out of the total 300 new towers, 246 were set up in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, 44 in Parvathipuram Manyam, 4 in Prakasam, 3 in Eluru, 2 in Srikakulam and 1 in Kakinda. Airtel and Reliance Jio set up 136 and 164 towers respectively.
Nearly two lakh people belonging to 944 habitations will get communication facilities with the new towers, he said, adding that 42,000 people benefited from 100 towers set up earlier. The cell towers were set up at a cost of Rs 400 crore.
The government has been setting up the mobile towers with an aim to extend welfare benefits to the people living in remote areas in a transparent manner, he said, adding that efforts to establish 2,400 more mobile towers are being expedited.
The government plans to extend communication facilities to people living in 5,459 remote habitations in the State by setting up 2,900 mobile towers, he said, adding that it has convinced the Centre to be part of the Rs 3,119 crore plan for which lands have already been handed over to the telecom companies.
The government aims to complete the construction of all the towers in the next one year and connectivity will help the people get TV and mobile connections, besides registering for the welfare schemes online.
The idea of extending mobile connectivity to remote areas is also part of the revolutionary changes being introduced to transform the rural landscape with village secretariats, village clinics, RBKs and English medium schools, he explained.
Some tribals, who participated in the programme, thanked the Chief Minister for extending the 4G mobile network in their areas.
IT and Industries Minister G Amarnath, Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy, IT Secretary K Sasidhar, Communications Director (IT) C Chandrasekhara Reddy and representatives of Airtel and Reliance Jio were present.