The India Infrastructure Report 2006, to be released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, shows the disconnect between the two Indias.

In the four sectors telecommunications, power, roads and transport and water and sanitation studied by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the quality and quantity of service has been found to be substantially lower than in cities.

• Wheels of progress grind on

While Indian cities shine, rural India is still in the dark, says a report

Telephones
*Rural teleden sity is 1.67 per cent as com pared to 25.90 per cent in urban India

*High monthly rentals, poor service are to blame

Power
*Punjab shines with 99.87 per cent of its rural homes wired while it is 17.82 per cent for Orissa

*Assam gets power for 16% of the time

Water
*2,17,000 vil lages do not have access to safe drink ing water

*Water is laced with fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, iron and salts

Roads
*71 per cent vil lages in Madhya Pradesh are not connected

*Only 55 per cent of vil lages are con nected by

The report has urged policy-makers to provide incentives to the private sector to involve itself in rural areas.