By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya is all set to take full advantage of the proposed Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Act of the central government, Commissioner and Secretary of Information and Technology Department DP Wahlang said.
“We are ready to implement the ESD once the act is passed”, Wahlang said adding that Meghalaya is one of the few states who have been taking full advantage of the ESD.
Wahlang was addressing a one-day national workshop on e-governance organized by the computer centre, NEHU under the aegis of the department of electronic and information technology, Government of India at NEHU campus here on Monday.
He said that Meghalaya is one of the few states in the country to have all the 4 important pillars of e-governance—Data Centre, State Wide Area Network (SWAN), common service centres (CSCs) and the service delivery gateway or the electronic road.
“Many problems faced by the common man will be dealt with accordingly and it will also eliminate the whimsical behaviours of many officers”, Wahlang said.
Speaking at length about the achievement of the state in this field, Wahlang said Meghalaya is the first state out of 16 states to set up a Data Centre and one of 30 states to introduce SWAN.
Further, he informed that around 225 CSCs will be set up in the state based on the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model which is mandated to be set up in the rural areas. “At present, 212 have already been set up in the last three years with the brand name ‘Rainbow’”, the commissioner said.
He however, pointed out that in the state where there are 6500 villages out of which 50 percent have a population of about 200 and above, setting up CSCs is a challenging task stating that many villages are situated beyond the block and district headquarters coupled with connectivity problem (internet).
As per the direction of the central government, each state should have around 1045 CSCs. However, Wahlang stated that this is not practical in the state as it will suffer loss as far as requirements for revenue scheme is concerned.
Terming e-governance as the key enhancer for effective and transparent governance, Wahlang said “It will ensure good delivery to the last miles for benefit of the common man”.
Meanwhile, representatives from the Department if Information and Technology, government of India deliberated at length on the vision and salient of the national e-governance plan (NeGP) stating that this plan which was approved in May 2006 was drafted following increase in the degree of complexity and services.
Meanwhile, head of the computer centre Prof P Shukla said the growth of technology has brought about social and cultural change. “It is time for the government to reach out to the rural populace and not the other way round.
He also stressed on the need to spread mass awareness to the people on the facilities made available to them.