Chief Secy, Odisha PK Jena chairs 6th State Broadband Committee Meeting

Chief Secretary of Odisha Pradeep Kumar Jena presided over today’s 6th State Broadband Committee Meeting-Odisha at Lok Seva Bhavan. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, submitted the Annual Implementation Plan for the National Broadband Mission. The plan was thoroughly examined during the conference. Senior DoT officials, Principal Secretaries of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department, Odisha Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary of Finance, Energy and Electronics and IT Department, and all other committee members were present at the meeting.

Following the Department of Telecommunications’ submission of the Annual Implementation Plan on the National Broadband Mission, Chief Secretary Jena stated that it is necessary to verify the accuracy of the data about telecom connectivity coverage both on paper and in real life. He recommended that Collectors and DMs assign their field staff to confirm the true situation. The DoT and E&IT Department have been directed to expedite the resolution of issues of mobile towers by conducting virtual conferences with district collectors, SPs, and DFOs. These issues include land allocation, road access, forest clearance, local issues, etc. and should be forwarded in detail to concerned Collectors & DMs for 15 days.

The PM Gati Shakti portal will map all of the departments’ locations, including Aanganwadis with broadband connectivity: School & Mass Education and Health & FW. By planning a one-hour camp and having startup demo sessions, we hope to raise awareness among line departments, subordinate offices, and other relevant parties on the use of 5G use cases. To prevent needless harm to public utilities, it was decided to issue an executive order requiring all asset owner agencies and digging/excavation agencies to utilize the CBuD App. The Chief Secretary to the DoT, Odisha also proposed that CBuD awareness camps be held at each district headquarters with participation from all engineering staff members.

The Principal Secretary of the Energy Department was advised by the Chief Secretary to speak with DISCOMS and support the idea of composite billing for all TSPs, ISPs, and IPs to prevent challenges with short-term electricity payments. It is also recommended that the Housing & Urban Development Department speed up the process of uploading the list of street furniture to the PM Gati Shakti Portal to make it easier for tiny cells to be installed and enable faster internet connectivity. With the upcoming “Rath-Yatra” festival in mind, COAI and all TSPs/ISPs have been asked to enhance mobile network connectivity through the deployment of Cell-on-Wheels (CoW) or by modernizing the current infrastructure. InterviewTimes