There are 6,799 such villages in Odisha that have no mobile and internet services, informed Electronics and Information Technology Minister Tusharkanti Behera on Thursday.
While replying to a written query of BJP’s Rairangpur MLA Naba Charan Majhi in Odisha Assembly, Minister Behera said as many as 6,799 villagers are yet to get mobile network and internet services.
For the installation of mobile towers at 3673 places for three mobile services, government lands have been provided free of cost, he added.
While informing that the state government has implemented the Odisha Mobile Towers, OFC (Optical Fibre Cables) and related Telecom Infrastructure Policy, 2017, he also said that a target has been set to provide mobile services to all the villages in the state by March 2024.
The real picture of how the students suffered due to the non-availability of mobile and internet services in villages emerged during the pandemic time.
As maintaining social distance was a norm then and with the schools remaining closed, the government laid emphasis on online classes. The students residing in villages that are deprived of mobile and internet services faced a lot of challenges. In some villages, students had to even trek hills to access the services.