GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday said that the State Government was using e-governance to extend good governance to the people of Assam and inauguration of an exclusive directorate of information technology (IT) would help the government to pluck the digital divide between urban and rural areas.
Inaugurating the Directorate of Information Technology, Electronics and Communication at the premises of Janata Bhawan on Wednesday, Chief Minister Sonowal said that though the works of IT so far been looked after by AMTRON, creation of a separate directorate would lend administrative efficiency. He also said after the explosion of Airways, Roadways and Waterways, information highway is another area that the State was heavily banking upon.
Sonowal said that the state government in order to spread the fruits of governance even in the remotest part of the state has been actively working to build a dedicated network of optical grid in the state. In such backdrop, inauguration of the IT Directorate would not only break the jinx of digital divide, it would help in eliminating corruption at all levels. He also said that the proliferation of IT would also act as a catalyst to overcome ignorance and superstitions.
Sonowal said that the technology driven-force in the Directorate must be in a position to cater to the information needs of the public who comes to the Directorate seek information of different sports. He however, said that the Directorate through the extensive use of IT must forge harmony among different sections of the people of the state belonging to Barak, Brahmaputra, plains and hills.
Sonowal also conceded that inaugurating a Directorate for IT just before the first ever Global Investors’ Summit would augur well in bolstering a new paradigm of development in the state. It should also act as a repository of information so that the prospective investors get all sorts of information just by clicking a mouse, Sonowal added.