Srinagar: The Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Wednesday chaired the first meeting of the State Broadband Committee to review the implementation of National Broadband Mission in Jammu & Kashmir.
Administrative Secretaries of departments of Home, Housing & Urban Development and Information Technology besides, officers from LSA, Department of Telecom, GoI, BSNL and representatives from TAIPA participated in the meeting.
The meeting was informed that to provide high-speed internet connectivity in Jammu & Kashmir, the J&K Communication and Connectivity Infrastructure Policy will be adopted soon which will pave the way to the implementation of Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016 in Jammu & Kashmir.
The Chief Secretary asked BSNL to undertake a survey and consolidate the data regarding the villages/habitations which are yet to be provided with mobile network coverage, besides sharing information on the Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) for J&K.
Reviewing the progress achieved under the National Broadband Mission, the Chief Secretary observed that approximately 3200 Gram Panchayats in Jammu & Kashmir is still to be provided with high-speed broadband connectivity. In this regard the Department of Telecommunications was asked to review the bottlenecks and expedite the connectivity of the unconnected villages, favourably by December, 2021.