In a recent development, the Ministry of Communications introduced the GatiShakti Sanchar portal for Centralised Right of Way (RoW) approvals, making headlines. This initiative has been designed with the prime focus on the National Broadband Mission’s vision areas – offering broadband infrastructure as a core utility to all citizens, promoting governance and services on demand, and aiming for digital empowerment for the country’s citizens.
The Portal’s Objective
Specially developed to simplify business procedures for telecommunications infrastructure works, the GatiShakti Sanchar portal is seen as a significant step towards ease of doing business.
The Portal’s Significance
The portal plays a crucial role in the swift disposal of various Service and Infrastructure providers’ RoW applications, leading to the timely setup of necessary infrastructure. This will ultimately aid in the expedited rollout of the 5G network. The portal comes with an advanced dashboard providing state and district-wise information on pending applications, enabling effective monitoring across the country.
Besides, the portal is set to improve the quality of telecom services by allowing the fast laying of more optical fiber cables, thus accelerating fiberization. This will lead to increased tower density, enhancing connectivity and improving the quality of various telecom services. As a result, better broadband speed across the nation can be ensured through increased fiberization of telecom towers.
Empowering the Nation Digitally
With its potential to boost the ‘AatmaNirbhar’ movement, the GatiShakti Sanchar portal is expected to play a pivotal role in transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The portal serves both rural and urban India by ensuring uninterrupted digital access, digital delivery of services, and digital inclusion for all, based on sustainable, affordable, and transformative technology.
PM Gati Shakti Scheme Insights
The government launched the ambitious Gati Shakti scheme, also known as the National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity, in 2021. The scheme aims at a coordinated planning and execution of infrastructure projects to reduce logistics costs. It encompasses the Rs 110 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline initiated in 2019 and plans to increase cargo handling capacity, reduce turnaround time at ports, extend 4G connectivity to all villages, add 17,000 kms to the gas pipeline network, and more. The scheme is primarily designed with the objective to expedite works on the ground, save costs, and create jobs.
About the National Broadband Mission
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) established the National Broadband Mission in 2019. The mission’s goal is to facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas, by creating a backbone of infrastructure for the smooth and efficient deployment of Digital Communications Infrastructure. The GatiShakti Sanchar portal will provide a robust mechanism to achieve the “Broadband for All” goal as envisaged in the National Digital Communication Policy-2.