The Prime Minister's Office recently reviewed at a meeting the status of the proposal to establish the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) to provide broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats and decided to give impetus to it.
It was decided that a Coordination Committee would be set up to give a push to the effort, officials said about the proposal for which Rs 20,000 crore have been earmarked.
The Committee will be headed by Telecom Secretary and include Secretaries of Information Technology, Health and Family Welfare, School Education and Literacy, Higher Edcuation, Food and Public Distribution, Panchayati raj and Rural Development.
The NOFN is being rolled out by the Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL), which has been specifically created for the implementation of this project and rolling out of the network, the officials said.
The network is being created as part of the government's effort to provide e-governance at panchayat level as it will facilitate electronic delivery of services.
The Committee will assess the requirement of various ministries and government departments to have a pan-India network to offer governance service to citizens using broadband up to panchayat level.
It will assess requirements of state governments as well to have pan-state network for offering government services.
The Committee will also evolve a framework to faciliate design of pan-India and pan-state network through BBNL and enable ministries, government department to offer their services on NOFN.
