Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Phase II

The proposal of installing 4072 mobile towers with 2G and 4G technology at locations identified by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in left wing extremism (LWE) affected areas was approved on 23.05.2018 with subsidy support of Rs 7330 crore (excluding taxes) from Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund. The roll-out period was 18 months from the date of signing of the contract with implementing agencies. A tender was floated for revised 2217 tower locations identified by Ministry of Home Affairs at an estimated cost of Rs 3214.65 crore on 04.11.2019. The tender was re-floated on 11.03.2021 with a revised number of 2542 tower sites for “provisioning of 4G based mobile services at tower locations identified by Ministry of Home Affairs in Left Wing Extremism (LWE-II) affected areas”. The agreement was signed with M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) on 30.09.2021 and with M/s Bharti Airtel Limited (BAL) on 1.10.2021.

Status so far

The survey for 2338 sites has been completed. 218 more locations have been added to the scheme on the recommendation of MHA against the deleted location. Survey work is under process for these locations. The project completion target is set for September 2023.

As on 18.03.2024, 915 sites have been covered by installing 869 mobile towers and associated infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. Implementation work is in progress.

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