One-lakh broadband service centers by '08: Raja

New Delhi

August 2nd, 2007

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology announced its plans
to set up one-lakh broadband enabled service centers in the country by March
2008 at a total cost of Rs 5400 crore.

A Raja, Minister of Communication and Information Technology said that one
center would come up for every six villages with all e-governance services. The
central government would contribute Rs 1600 crore and the rest by the private
sector under the Public Private Partnership. The Minister was speaking at the
eIndia 2007 Conference.

Raja said that for implementation of e-governance, government on its part is
trying to provide basic infrastructure including Internet window facilitation
center and last leg connectivity for implementation of e-governance, but
participation of private sector and citizens is a key factor for providing
totally transparent services to the public.

"The application of IT to government processes, e-governance in short,
can have a profound impact-on the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability
of government, thereby, on the quality of life and productivity of citizens,
especially the poor, and ultimately, on the economic output and growth of the
country as a whole," he said.

"Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has wide ranging
activities from spreading of IT to masses to ensuring speedy IT led development.
With information and communication at its core, Department of Information
Technology has initiated the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP)," said Raja.

"NeGP in its current form consists of mission mode projects and
functional components to be executed over a four-year period. Many states have
started preparing detailed project reports for implementation of these mission
mode projects. Many ministries have initiated the process for designing mission
mode projects and are in the implementation phase currently," he added.