In news- The railways has enabled free Wi-Fi at its 6000th station as the facility went live at Hazaribagh town of Jharkhand.
About the facility-
- The railways provided Wi-Fi facility first at the Mumbai Railway station in 2016.
- Wi-fi at 5000th station was provided at Midnapore in West Bengal.
- On May 15, 2021 Jarapada station in Angul District of Odisha was also provided with Wi-Fi facility.
- The Wi-Fi facility at railway stations are meant to meet the objectives of the ‘Digital India’ programme.
- This will bridge the digital divide between the rural and urban citizens thereby maximizing the digital footprint in the rural villages as well as enhance the user experience.
- Provision of Wi-Fi facility at stations is being provided on a self-sustainable basis with no cost to the railways.
- It is carried out with the help of RailTel, a PSU under the Ministry of Railways in partnership with Google, Department of Telecommunication (under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), PGCIL and Tata Trust.
- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh are the top three states with more stations being Wi-fi connected (as of May 2021).
More information – RailTel – JournalsOfIndia
Source: TOI
