Business Line               09.05.2013 

TN to strengthen IT infrastructure, e-governance

The Tamil Nadu Government will provide Rs 100 crore to Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu to improve IT infrastructure in Government departments, set up an e-governance fund and create an IT cadre to improve information flow and service delivery.

These initiatives were among the announcement the Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa made in the Assembly on bringing in use of IT for the benefit of administration and the public.

The Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network is a dedicated facility for linking government departments to provide voice, data, Internet and audio-visual link. The State-run Electronics Corporation has provided over 708 points-of-presence linking a range of government offices including district headquarters and 1,853 government offices.

A number of these offices including commercial taxes, water supply and healthcare utilise the IT infrastructure for delivering services to the public. More such horizontal connectivity are needed to expand e-governance and a redundant connectivity, an alternative facility in case of breakdown of the existing network, is also needed.

The Rs 100-crore will be used to fund a Rs 50-crore second phase expansion of IT network to more government offices, Rs 10 crore for creating redundant connectivity and Rs 40 crore for horizontal connectivity, she said.

The IT cadre, a pool of personnel skilled in IT, will be deployed in the Secretariat and government department headquarters to strengthen use of IT.

Cloud computing

A cloud computing facility will also be created at the State Data Centre at a cost of Rs 11 crore. Enhancing the computing capacity of various departments using over the Internet through cloud computing will also enable government departments get IT hardware and software capacity and save on costs, she said.

A common geographical database will be created at a cost of Rs 6 crore for the use of various departments that need spatial and non-spatial information.

Specific government departments that deliver a range of services to the public will be identified on a mission mode basis and be computerised fully. A Rs 10 crore e-governance fund will also be created to expedite such online delivery of services.