Jamshedpur, June 18: Union communication and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad�on Saturday�announced that the State-run BSNL will set up 250 Wi-Fi hotspots in Jharkhand.
Addressing a press conference in a hotel here Prasad informed that 60 each Wi-Fi hotspots will come up in Jamshedpur and Ranchi. He has also asked authorities to carry a survey to identify the zones where the service will be introduced. Prasad said that within a year the proposed hotspots will start functioning.
Prasad was in the city to address a ‘Vikas Parv’ function organized to mark the completion of two years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
He also apprised that in order to improve its telecom service, the BSNL would be setting up 185 2 G towers and 185 3G towers in the State while 50 such towers will come up in Jamshedpur and its surrounding areas.
On the issue of call drops, he said the problem is aggravated due to people’s misconception that the radiation emitted by the mobile towers has an adverse effect on their health owing to which many such towers have been removed from residential areas.
He said that even a study of World Health Organization (WHO) has proved that mobile towers do not cause any health hazard.� He also blamed previous UPA government for heavy losses at state-run BSNL in recent years.
Talking to reporters on the status of BSNL, he said when NDA regime ended in 2004, BSNL had made a profit of Rs 10,000 crore. But after 10 years of UPA rule, BSNL’s loss was estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crore due to the ‘non-performance’ of Manmohan Singh government, he alleged.
Prasad also said that BSNL has earned an operating profit of Rs 672 crore for the first time�in seven years�and expressed confidence for better performance by the end of this fiscal.
The minister expressed confidence that the public sector telecom company would earn an operating profit of Rs 2,000 crore in this financial year.
He also announced to set up 13 Post Shoppe in Jharkhand. The shoppe is designed to offer stationery� items� ranging� from� various� sizes� of �envelopes,� A4� papers,� Pens,� Staplers, Scissors, Glue Sticks, for sale.
Moreover, 60 ATMs of the postal department will come up along with 2600 micro ATMs at Jharkhand. The postal department has successfully adopted technology in the implementation of its major operations.
�Our Government is dedicated for the alround development. We want to ensure that the welfare schemes are reached to grass root level.
We can proudly say that in a country with 125 crore population, 102 crore have access to mobile phones, 101 crore have Aadhar and 40 crore have access to internet,” he said.