Committee constituted by the government of Maharashtra to resolve long time pending telecom issues, says DIPA

Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) has praised the order by the government of Maharashtra in which the new committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of principal secretary, urban development department which will submit its report within 15 days to the government on the long time pending critical and urgent telecom operational issues.

Since the past three-four years, DIPA has been raising the issues faced by the telecom infrastructure providers with the government of Maharashtra that includes implementation of telecom infrastructure policy as issued by information technology department, Maharashtra by all local bodies in true letter and spirit, rationalization of property tax on telecom towers and regularization of towers existing prior to policy notified by State government in February, 2018.

Taking cognizance of the submissions made by the director general, DIPA and the importance of robust communications infrastructure during natural disaster and pandemic to ensure that economy keeps on running, the chief secretary had directed for constitution of special committee under Urban Development department to resolve the issues at the earliest.

The newly constituted committee will work towards resolving the challenges faced by the telecom infrastructure providers in Maharashtra include implementation of telecom infrastructure policy as issued by IT department, Maharashtra by all local bodies in true letter and spirit; rationalization of property tax on telecom towers; and regularisation of towers existing prior to policy notified by state government in February 2018.

Commenting on the development, Tilak Raj Dua, director general, DIPA, said, “We appreciate and thank the state government of Maharashtra for constituting this new committee to resolve the long-time pending telecom operational issues in the state. We firmly believe that the new committee will have holistic view of the matters and the outcome will be in best interest of all stakeholders and boost the creation of robust digital infrastructure in the state.”