Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched 300 4G mobile cell towers in remote tribal areas of Alluri Seetharama Raju and Parvatipuram Manyam districts, taking the number of towers in remote areas across the State to 400.

Launching the towers virtually from the Camp Office here on Thursday, the Chief Minister said these towers will provide communication facilities in remote areas where there is no connectivity so far.

Out of the 300 new towers, 246 were established in Alluri Seetharama Raju district while the rest were erected in Parvathipuram Manyam (44), Prakasam (4), Eluru (3), Srikakulam (2) and Kakinada (1) districts. AirTel and Reliance Jio established 136 and 164 towers respectively.

Nearly two lakh people belonging to 944 habitations will get communication facilities with the new towers, he said, adding that 42,000 people benefited from the 100 towers established earlier. These towers were established with an expenditure of Rs 400 crore.

Government has been establishing these mobile towers aiming at extending welfare benefits in full transparency to the people living in remote areas, he said, adding that efforts to establish 2400 more mobile towers are being expedited.

Government plans to extend communication facilities to people living in 5,459 remote habitations by establishing 2900 mobile towers, he said, adding that the Government has convinced the Centre to be part of the Rs. 3,119 crore plan for which lands were already handed over to build 2,900 towers.

The Chief Minister said that the Government aims at completing the construction of all the towers in the next one year and connectivity would help the people gain TV and mobile connections besides registering for the welfare schemes online.

The idea of extending mobile connectivity to remote areas is also part of the revolutionary changes being introduced to transform the rural landscape with village secretariats, village clinics, RBKs and English medium schools

Some tribals participated in the programme and thanked the Chief Minister for extending the 4G network in their areas. Chittemma of Paderu Mandalam in ASR district said that she used to trek to the top of the hill to make calls in the past and people would be relieved of the ordeal now.

Chalapati Rao of Parvatipuram Manyam district said people of his hamlet used to walk for five kilometres to make phone call and now it would be easier for them to make phone calls and know about the latest developments and Government schemes.

IT and Industries Minister G. Amarnath, CS Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, IT Secretary K. Sasidhar, Communications Director (IT) C. Chandrasekhara Reddy and representatives of AirTel and Reliance Jio were among those present.

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