Joginder Nagar to be Himachal’s first free Wi-Fi town

Himachal Pradesh’ Joginder Nagar, famous for being Asia’s only town having three hydro-power stations, will soon offer free Wi-Fi facility to all internet users, locals as well as tourists.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said free Wi-Fi facility will be made operational within one and a half months time. It’s a self-propelled initiative of the local panchayat, which had tied-up with BSNL to bring the new age technology to the door steps of rural population in the area.

Rolling out the plan, Ajay Dharwal, member of nagar panchayat, said, “Frankly, the idea came from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s election promise to turn Delhi as free Wi-Fi city. He may not have achieved success in his plan but we have done it in the mountainous town, which has a population of 6,500 with over 84 percent literacy.”

Dharwal also gave credit to Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma who encouraged the nagar panchayat to execute the idea of free Wi-Fi for all as the same could later be replicated by other urban towns in the state.

“The BSNL will install modems and routers at a distance of 100 meters over entire town to provide high speed internet connectivity. The Wi-Fi facility will support free browsing by the internet users. The BSNL will charge Rs 1.20 lakhs to Rs 1.30 lakhs from the nagar panchayat —which only today was upgraded as Nagar Parishad by chief minister,”he said .

“All the CCTV cameras will function on the wifi network and there will be no need of laying of cables .We will set-up a control room to monitor the garbage collection and disposal scheme,” Ajay Dharwal told the Indian Express over phone.

Source:: Indian Express