ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee was informed that provincial environment and forest department are denying Universal Service Fund (USF) access to construct cellular service towers in forest areas.

These include more than 120 towers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Senate Subcommittee on Information Technology met on Tuesday to discuss progress made on extending mobile and broadband internet services to far-flung areas in KP, Fata and Balochistan.

Though USF official asserted the significance of connecting the citizens of KP with mobile and internet service to bring them at par with other provinces, KP Secretary Forest Nazar Shah said the government intended to install cellular mobile towers in forest land, which was not permitted under environment laws to protect natural habitats.

USF is a department of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and has a mandate to extend cellular services to un-served and under-served locations across the country.

“We also do not have provisions in the law which deals with the development of infrastructure in forest lands,” said Nazar Shah.

He said the matter had been discussed with the law division which had suggested de-notifying forest area to allow infrastructure development.

“By doing that, the forest area will lose its status and will no longer be protected under law,” Mr Shah said.

According to USF Technical Officer Syed Asif Kamal Shah, the government was facing similar difficulties in Kohistan where the local forest departments are not allowing the government to develop cellular sites in 119 locations, all inside protected forest lands.

“Work is also on hold in another four sites in Chitral,” Asif Shah said, explaining that more cellular towers were needed in hilly areas for uninterrupted mobile and broadband internet services including 3G and 4G.

Nazar Shah said his office was cooperating with USF to help them introduce mobile and internet services in far-flung areas.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Taj Mohammad Afridi said it was imperative to connect all areas of the country with telecommunication and internet services. He urged officials from provincial forest and IT departments to assist the USF in connecting far-flung areas with technology.

Nazar Shah said he has already sent a summary to the Chief Minister’s Office for further action.

“We expect a positive outcome. The KP government realises the importance of telecommunication services in these areas that will connect the people of far off locations with the rest of the world and will also create jobs and boost the business environment,” he said.

Kamal Shah said USF has been issued an NOC for conducting surveys in Fata to indentify sites for installing more cellular towers.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2017