Date:17/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/17/stories/2007041717540100.htm

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e-District project for two districts

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Draft project proposal submitted to Union Ministry

Project is part of National e-Governance Plan

Pathanamthitta, Kannur to get Rs. 5 crore each

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Union Ministry for Information Technology has identified Pathanamthitta and Kannur for implementing the people-friendly e-District project in the current financial year.

According to Pathanamthitta Collector Ashok Kumar Singh, the National Informatics Centre's district unit has already submitted the draft project proposal as requested by the Union Ministry.

The project is part the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to cover local high-volume services, thus taking the total number of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under the Plan to 27. The project is being implemented as an integrated sector project through the State Governments. Each district will get approximately Rs.5 crore for its implementation.

The Union Ministry had sanctioned the project for nine districts (six districts in Uttar Pradesh and three in the North-East States) as a special case in 2006-07.

The Centre has formulated the NeGP with a view to providing all Government services in an integrated manner at the doorstep of the citizen at an affordable cost. It envisaged a three-pillar model for delivery of "web-enabled anytime, anywhere access" to information and services in rural India.

Besides saving huge costs to the Government, the NeGp makes Government dealings more transparent and efficient. To this effect, the role of various common service centres, envisaged as the front-end delivery network for Government services, assume great significance, he said.

The Collector said 10 departments had been identified for the proposed e-District project based on a socio-economic need analysis.

He said uniform connectivity throughout the district would be the most essential part of the proposed e-District architecture of Pathanamthitta.

He said the State Government had already obtained the Union Government's approval to establish the KSWAN and 8 Mbps data link from the Secretariat to the districts.

The plan is to extend the reach of the network to block level. District Network Management Stations should be established at the district headquarters, and network operating centres should be established in all the 14 block headquarters in the district in order to manage and maintain KSWAN.