Two years on, high power bills, no broadband for Chhattisgarh panchayats

IN ONE OF the three rooms of the Panchayat Bhawan in Khamtarai village in Arang Block, about 50 kms from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, stands a wall-mounted metal cabinet with two routers installed under the Rs 3,057-crore rural broadband connectivity project, BharatNet Phase II, awarded to Tata Projects Ltd in July 2018.

These devices — meant to light up the village with the internet — have now become a drag on the panchayat’s finances. Poshan Sahu, Sarpanch of Khamtarai, said electricity consumption of the devices is probably higher than that for the rest of the office. “Earlier, I would pay a few hundred rupees. In December 2019, after these devices were installed, it shot up to Rs 1,320,” he told The Indian Express.