Cabinet may take up issue of telco towers in naxal areas tmrrw

The long-pending proposal of installing mobile towers in nine naxal-affected states by BSNL is likely to be taken up before the Cabinet tomorrow.
"Cabinet is likely to take up installation of mobile towers in naxal area on Wednesday," a source told PTI.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been pushing for the installation of mobile towers in Naxal-hit areas since 2010. The absence of mobile services has made it tough for security forces to operate and get timely help in critical situations, leading to loss of lives in some incidents.
Soon after a Maoist attack at Bastar in Chhattisgarh in which 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, were killed, the then Cabinet in June 2013 approved setting up mobile towers at a cost of around Rs 3,046 crore in nine states affected by the naxal violence to improve communication.

The project to install mobile towers at 2,199 locations was to be completed by June but its progress was stuck due to difference of actual bids and project cost approved by then UPA government.
Last month, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Parliament had said that the towers would be installed in these areas in another 15 months.
According to the Minister, the project cost discovered by BSNL for setting up mobile towers in the naxal-affected states is "Rs 3,567.58 crore".
The government has identified areas in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.