Bhopal: Over 2600 villages in Madhya Pradesh still lack mobile and landline connections. The villagers don’t miss facilities but suffer when it comes to their digital verification.
There are 2612 villages in Madhya Pradesh that still remain uncovered in terms of mobile connectivity. The fact came to light in form of reply filed by Ministry of Communication in Lok Sabha in March 2021.
MP stands second after Odisha that has highest number (6099) of uncovered villages and Maharashtra at third place with 2328 villages without mobile connectivity.
In Madhya Pradesh, according to census 2011, there are 51,929 inhabited villages in state out of which 49,317 villages have mobile connectivity as per 2020 data. As many as 2612 villages remain deprived of it.
Central government in its written reply has admitted that 90 districts in 11 states are affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) that has led to these villages deprived of mobile towers.
The reply also states that there are 2475 inhabited villages in MP that fall into LWE districts - as per census 2011. “As many as 138 villages are uncovered with mobile network,” said the reply in Lok Sabha.
Another report on communication states that only Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh has all villages in district connected with mobile networks.
Betul district with 210 villages without connectivity has the highest numbers of villages in this category while Chhindwara with 183 villages is second and Dindori with 176 villages is third.
Other districts with around 100 villages without connectivity include Balaghat, Mandla, Singrauli, Panna, Seoni, Sidhi, Damoh and Sheopur.
Telecom experts say that mobile companies were not given permission to establish towers in forest areas. State owned BSNL and other private communication companies like Jio and Airtel have been seeking permission to place towers but haven’t received any positive reply, so far.
