Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced that the government will make an additional outlay of over Rs 19,000 crore for the BharatNet project aimed at broadband connectivity in rural India.

       Addressing the media, Sitharaman said that the additional allocation will enable an extension of BharatNet broadband connectivity to all remaining villages.

       As per government data, more than 1.56 lakh out of 2.5 lakh gram panchayats have already been connected and are service-ready.

       With the additional outlay of Rs 19,041 crore, the total outlay for the much ambitious project would be Rs 61,109 crore including the already approved amount of Rs 42,068 crore in 2017.

       The initiative which is implemented in a public private partnership model has been delayed to a great extent and has missed deadlines so far.

       --IANS

       rrb/sn/kr

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