A 'Right of Way<\/a>' (RoW) debate has broken out between the telecom ministry<\/a> and a clutch of key ministries -- from defence to road transport and railways -- over the charges to be paid for use of government land for developing telecommunication infrastructure essential for nationwide 5G rollout<\/a> and the Bharatnet<\/a> project for rural tele-connectivity.
With nearly 500 projects stuck over the issue, the telecom ministry is preparing to go to Cabinet to ensure that other stakeholder ministries only levy nominal charges for laying of the optical fibre network and setting up of poles, ET has reliably gathered.
This will, in most cases, require changes in the rules\/subordinate legislation of the other ministries and hence the need for Cabinet approval.