Eco ministry nod to speed up broadband link to villages

In what could be the next big shake-up to completely transform governance and life at large in rural pockets - still operating in a very analog fashion - the state is planning to lay down the Information Superhighway through them.

Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar cleared a major roadblock in providing broadband connectivity to gram panchayats in Maharashtra by resolving to give an en-bloc consent for laying optical fibre cable (OFC) networks through forest lands.

The clearance comes as a boost for the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) scheme, which plans to cover 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in India with broadband network by 2016-end. It is, indubitably, an ambitious scheme considering that broadband penetration in the country is currently at a dismal 2%.

The Rs20,000-crore project was initiated in 2011 and is being funded under the Universal Service Obligation Fund. The related work has started in 1,571 gram panchayats and 64 blocks in 21 districts of Maharashtra under the first phase of the project.

The high-speed internet access at the village level will enable the government to roll out various programmes for e-governance, e-health and e-education and bridge the digital divide and information gap by providing last-mile connectivity.

The project augurs well fo the economy too, as per a World Bank study which estimates that a 10% increase in broadband connectivity leads to a 1.38% spike in the gross domestic product (GDP).

Wherever cables have to be laid through forest lands, right of way from the forest department is mandatory. But with Mungantiwar, who is also state finance minister, deciding to grant blanket permission to all such lines passing through forest lands, the work on the project will be expedited.

In other words, if OFCs are to be laid through forest lands, it will not be necessary to submit a formal proposal to the state government, which is mandatory for similar projects.

At places where laying the network does not involve felling of trees, the area does not fall under the jurisdiction of a national park or wildlife sanctuary and the work to be done is along the roadside, the powers to grant permissions as per the provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 are delegated to the concerned regional deputy conservator of forests.

Incidentally, the centre has set up the Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) as a special purpose vehicle for the establishment, management and operation of NOFN.