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K Sandhu, finance and IT secretary, Chandigarh administration shares the governments plans to boost IT initiatives in the state. The Union Territory (UT) administration is planning to set up seventy new e-Sampark centers in the territory, in the next six months. Excerpts:

What are the governments initiatives regarding e-Governance in Chandigarh?
The Chandigarh administration has been taking active interest to rollout e-Governance initiatives in the state. Under the e-Governance plan we have rolled out nine e-Sampark centers. Project e-Sampark is a multi-service single window system which connects various public dealing departments with electronic centers. This project has been awarded the Golden Icon Award for e-Governance by the Government of India. In this center, we are offering twenty services including payment of taxes, utility bills, passport application, and disbursement of old age pension and other utility services.

E-Jan Sampark is another project targeted at disseminating information related services to citizens. Every center supports multi-service delivery, including non-transactional services. We are planning to set up seventy such kiosks on a public-private partnership. It will be built on the reverse model of built, operate and transfer (BOT). We will set up these centers in the next six months.

We have also set up seventeen e-Gram Sampark centers in seventeen villages of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. It is a combination of e-Sampark and e-Jan Sampark, targeting the rural population. Through these centers, citizens will be able to use 15 G2C and 3 B2C services.

Can you share some figures in terms of revenues contributed to the government exchequer from these centers? Are you planning to increase the number of centers in the territory?
In last three years of the establishment of these centers, the administration has transacted more than Rs 700 crore. In 2006, we earned revenue of Rs 350 crore, which is expected to increase every year. We are transacting more than Rs 1.25 lakh per month from these centers.

We have recorded selling 1,000 stamp papers on a day-to-day basis, and are planning to set up 70 e-Jan Sampark centers in the next six months.

Can you share some IT initiatives taken by the administration to attract major IT companies? What incentives will the government be offering to these companies?
Under the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP), the government has been taking special initiative to attract IT companies to the UT. This initiative has been divided in to three phases. In the first phase, 123 acres of land has been allotted to two companies to set up centers, in the site. Infosys has set up its center here, and around 2,000 people will be employed. DLF Info City has also built a center which houses a number of IT companies like IBM Daksh, Net Solutions, eSys and SAP solutions.

Under the second phase, 250 acres of land has been allotted of which 125 acres has been allotted to IT/BPO companies. Wipro is the anchor company with Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and eSys as co-anchors. Development of the third phase of the park on 270 acres has already begun. We have identified the land, and are in the final stages of acquisition. It would be partly under SEZ and partly under STPI. Once the project is completed, it will bring in investments of more than $600 mn apart from employing 25,000 IT professionals.

The IT policy of Chandigarh was declared on April 2000 to promote the application of Information Technology for the benefit of the society, by implementing e-Governance and by promoting investment in the field of technology. The IT-enabled service policy was declared in January 2003, to promote the BPO sector, which is witnessing a huge growth. Chandigarh is also a part of the growth and would contribute to the growth of this industry.

Is the government planning to offer special professional courses to groom students as professionals for the emerging IT hub of the country?
Society for Promotion of Information Technology in Chandigarh (Spic) has taken the initiative to start C-TOSS (Chandigarh Training on Soft Skills) program to develop skilled professionals for the BPO sector. Regarding this, we have signed an MoU with Dell, Wipro and other companies. This is a special program to tune students to the industry standards. This course is being designed in co-operation with IT and HRD companies. The training would be carried out by training agencies at the college premises.

Nasscom has now tied up with Spic for conducting their National Level NASSC. The first test for NAC is scheduled to be held this month.

Can you throw some light on the Chandigarh Cyber Security and Research center?
The state-of-the-art Entrepreneurs Development Center is coming up on a 1.5-acre plot at a cost of Rs 16 crore. It will have plug and play facilities for upcoming entrepreneurs. This center will include the Regional Cyber Security Research center. This center is being set-up in collaboration with Nasscom and Punjab Engineering College. The center has been operational from March 2007.

With the growth of Internet literacy, tackling crime is a challenge facing the administration. However, the research center will look in to it to provide safe and secure data access to the people of the region. The administration has invested around Rs 1 crore in the research center.

What is the administrations take on the Special Economic Zone policy?
We are setting up a single window committee for each SEZ in order to facilitate permission and processing of applications. This facility would be available to the developers of the SEZ. The single window committee would be headed by the development commissioner of the SEZ authority, and include representatives of all key government departments.

SEZs, units within the SEZs, and developers of these SEZs will be exempted from sales tax, VAT, property tax, purchase tax, stamp tax and electricity duty.

Bhaskar Hazarika
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

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