Lagatar24 Desk
The approval for the submarine optical fibre cable connectivity between Kochi and Lakshadweep Islands was given by the Union cabinet in December 2020. Now, the government is going to build a 1,772 km fiber optic cable network between Kochi in Kerala and Lakshadweep. This project is expected to improve the telecommunication facility in the Lakshadweep Islands. But VK Saraswat, a well-known scientist of the country and member of NITI Aayog, is opposing its tender. Saraswat has alleged that the tender document for the Rs 1,072 crore project has been deliberately prepared in such a way that Indian companies cannot participate in it. He also said that this may put a question mark on the credibility of the project, endanger the security of the country and keep its cost high.
Saraswat, the former chief of the country’s leading defense research agency DRDO, had written a letter to the Telecom Ministry in April raising doubts over the tender for this project. Significantly, this has also been challenged by the industry body Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) in the Delhi High Court. Saraswat wrote in the letter, “At a time when India is expanding its capabilities in the field of telecommunications, no such provision has been made in the tender note of the project, which would encourage indigenous capacity development.” It seems, the conditions in the tender have been deliberately fixed in such a way that Indian companies cannot participate in it.
The former DRDO chief has written in the letter, ‘Connectivity between the mainland and Lakshadweep is important for the country’s national security and strategy. We have to decide that the network that is going to be built should be solid, reliable, secure, indigenous and economical. To encourage participation of Indian companies, BSNL should hold the tender till the required changes are made’.
Notably, under this project, a network of fiber optic cables is to be built in the sea between Kochi and 11 islands of Lakshadweep. Through this, apart from improving mobile service in these areas away from the mainland, it is to provide bandwidth of 100 GBPS speed to promote e-governance and e-commerce. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this scheme on 15 August 2020.
