The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to set up task forces at the district levels to help roll out and protect telecom infrastructure in Naxal affected areas, according to news reports.
The task force will comprise local youth in such districts and will be constituted in collaboration with the State Governments.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications has already asked Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to take the first step and roll out 500 new base stations across 31 districts in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
The districts being covered include Dantewada, Dhanbad and Singhbum, which are some of the worst naxal-affected areas in the country. These areas have been neglected in terms of telecom infrastructure development. There are about 1,500 mobile towers in these 30 districts covering about 40 per cent of the geography.
