The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday approved the J&K Communication and Connectivity Infrastructure Policy (JKCCIP) to improve telecom and internet connectivity to fulfil objectives under the National Broadband Mission, an official spokesperson said here. The approval was granted at a meeting of the council held under the chairmanship of Sinha, the official added.
To further ease the laying of telecom infrastructure in the union territory which includes both overhead (mobile towers) and underground (optical fibre) infrastructure, the new policy includes ‘Rights of Way’ (RoW) provisions, which ensure hassle-free approval of RoW permissions in a speedy and time-bound manner through a single-window mechanism, he said. Under the new policy, permits with two years’ validity will be issued to infrastructure providers for laying optical fibre cable (OFC) network or underground telegraph infrastructure and installing telegraph infrastructure on open land, the official said.
To further facilitate the grant of permissions, the spokesperson said, the policy provides for the development of an online portal by the J&K e-Governance Agency within one year. “Once live, the portal will serve the need for online processing of various applications along with their check-lists, besides hosting information on grievances, grievance redressal mechanism, workflow charts, and MIS reports among others,” he said.
The spokesperson said the policy also includes provisions of redressal of disputes between infrastructure providers and government authorities within 45 days of filing a grievance.
“Besides improving telecom and internet connectivity, this policy once notified, will significantly aid in achieving the objectives as enshrined in the NBM and improve J&K’s ranking in the Broadband Readiness Index (BRI),” he added.
