Legal backing for Right of Way by December: Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Minister Vaishnaw launched the GatiShakti Sanchar portal that will centralise and speed up approvals for laying of fibre and tower installations, as the country gears up for 5G roll-out

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on May 14 said legal backing for Right of Way (RoW) will be in place by December and launched the GatiShakti Sanchar portal that will centralise and speed up approvals for laying of fibre and tower installations, as the country gears up for 5G roll-out.

The GatiShakti Sanchar portal will facilitate centralised Right of Way (RoW) approvals. An online platform for the industry to apply for RoW approvals as they build telecom infrastructure, including for 5G services, the GatiShakti Sanchar portal offers a unified, integrated, centralised approach covering all States and UTs and Central government Ministries.

For players, it promises to reduce the days involved in getting stipulated permissions, lower costs and facilitate ease of doing business.

Launching the portal, Mr. Vaishnaw asserted the need for legal provisions for Right of Way and promised that a strong legal backing will be put in place by December this year. At present, RoW rules are based on administrative process and a strong legal backing is required to empower local officials, bring clarity on the fee structure and fix accountability, he explained.

"That will be our next step. Moreover, all the portals that are there, especially Gati Shakti portal, railway portal, highway portal and others...integration of those...We will be working on these two technological and legal aspects," Mr. Vaishnaw said.

Work has started on these two fronts already and the integration of portals is expected in the next 3-4 months while the timelines for providing legal backing is December-end. Asked if legal provisions for RoW will also entail penalties if approval timelines are not met, the Minister said, “generally accountability and penalty tend to be linked.... otherwise, it is about deemed approval,” he said.