As many as 58 villages in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir may get mobile connectivity by the end of this financial year.
The Communication and Information and Technology Ministry has conveyed this to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur constituency.
"Union Minister for Communication & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has formally conveyed that there are 58 villages in Kishtwar district which did not have mobile (2G) service, but the government hopes to finalise a plan by the end of this financial year to provide voice connectivity in all these areas," said a statement issued by the Singh's office.
Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, had in August this year written to Communication and IT ministry to provide telecommunication facility in inaccessible villages of Marwah, Warman and Dachhan areas of Kishtwar.
"The Ministry has accordingly asked the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to prepare a plan to establish voice connectivity in all uncovered villages in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, including in district of Kishtwar," it said.
The Ministry expects the plan to be finalized in respect of border areas and hilly States by the end of this financial year, the statement said.
Ravi Shankar Prasad also assured Singh that his ministry will leave no stone unturned to provide good quality telecom service in Jammu & Kashmir.
Expressing satisfaction over the Union Communication Minister's positive response, Singh said, it was hard to imagine for people living in metropolis that even in today's hi-tech age and time, there were vast areas in the country where telephone services were not available.
With development and equitable distribution of resources among different regions of the state being high on the agenda of the Narendra Modi government, he said people living in far-flung remote areas will at last have an opportunity to be the beneficiaries of some of the progressive dividends available to the rest of the countrymen.
