Jaipur: Access to high-speed internet facility is a distant dreams for those living on the outskirts of tourist town of Jaipur. The new housing complexes coming up within the periphery of the district approved by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) have been deprived of the facility for optical fibre cables at a time when the United Nations (UN) has already declared Internet access a basic human right.
As the state government has issued leased land agreement papers at a meagre rate of ₹500, many builders have sold the land to customers at a high price, but, without providing a basic amenity like optical fibre cables or high speed internet cables.
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Eventually, the residents who have spent a huge amount of money on their dream houses are running from pillar to post for getting broadband, WiFi, mobile internet connections.
The builders have given swimming pools, club houses, sports areas but have not provided internet facility. Hence, the students are not able to finish their projects on time, those working from home are unable to deliver quality work and ordering groceries and booking cabs become the most difficult task, said Pawan, a resident of one such society.
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Another resident Rohit says, “It’s true that the builder has not made provisions for internet; but there are so many private companies which have been approached to lay fibres in our township. However, they are hesitant to spend money but are ready to spend thousands of crores on advertisements,” he adds.
A student Apoorv says, “It’s very sad that the private telecom companies like Tata Play were initially calling the residents in our township for connections. However, when we shifted here, they are now shying away from giving services.”
Meanwhile, CREDAI general secretary Ravindra Pratap Singh said, “Basically, India is undergoing a revolution of digitisation. PM Modi is keen on it and the CM is also distributing free smartphones. Now it is the government’s responsibility to extend the internet services.
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“The government should come up as the party to provide the internet. BSNL should also emerge as the government agency to provide internet services. We can’t ask private operators as they will look after their profits.”
Now when PM Modi is speaking of Digital India, cashless economy, government agencies like BSNL should provide these basic services, he adds.
Pawan says, “We have already contacted BSNL officials twice or thrice, the entire society has given an application after duly signing on the letter. However, what we are getting is ‘tareekh pe tareekh’. Earlier it was the rains that were stopping the BSNL officials and now, God knows what is stopping them,” he added.
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Even our builder Ashutosh Bansal has been contacted in this context. However, he said he is not responsible to provide internet fibre, he said.
Neha Gupta, former director of Manglam builders says, “Most builders and architects are old school. Anything which has been made mandatory by the government is being given. But basic things go amiss. But when a developer does so many things, the builder has no issue in providing internet fibre.
“But this is a planning flaw. If one builder promotes it as a USP all builders will start doing it. This is not cost cutting, they are basically unaware of how important the internet is for people these days,” she adds.
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The United Nations has already declared Internet Access a Basic Human Right. A BBC survey of 26 countries in March 2010 found that 79 percent of people believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right. However, even after 13 years, basic internet services are still lacking in a tourist city like Jaipur.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has recently started distribution of 40 lakh mobiles to women in the state so that they can reap the benefits of the digital world. Also he has announced distribution of 1 crore mobiles to women in the second phase.
