Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said the government has embarked on a mission to provide road, telecom and power connectivity to border villages, and soon plans to open them for tourists to give residents an additional source of income.

Addressing more than 350 elected panchayat members from border villages from four states and a Union Territory, he said the government has also resolved to ensure that border villages have access to radio and television programmes.

"The government is serious about providing telecom connectivity to border villages. In the next one year, border villages will get 4G connectivity. We also have plans to strengthen radio signals in remote areas and provide DD Free Dish to households not connected to television," the minister for information and broadcasting said.

He said under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' initiative of the government, border villages were being connected to roads, telecom and piped drinking water. "Some villages have already got access to these services, others will get these services soon," Thakur, a BJP leader, said.

The minister said after providing roads and telecom connectivity and water connections, the government will also encourage tourism through home-stays in borders villages. This will give an additional source of income to villagers, he said.

He said the government was also working on providing market linkages to handicraft products and farm produce from border villages as part of the Vibrant Villages Programme.

Elected representatives of panchayats from border villages of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh were invited as special guests for the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort here.

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