All deptts, NIC, CSC-SPV asked to be cautious in future
*Practice leading to duplication of resources, efforts
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 16: Several Government departments, Directorates, autonomous bodies, Corporations, Local Bodies and Public Sector Undertakings are keeping the Information Technology Department in dark on the execution of IT and e-Governance related projects in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
This undesirable act on the part of those at the helm of affairs in such wings of the Government is leading to duplication of resources and efforts besides putting information technology based initiatives to the grave risk of failure as such the Principal Secretary to the Government, Information Technology Department Bipul Pathak has issued a caution note to all the concerned authorities.
In Jammu and Kashmir Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited (CSC-SPV) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) are implementing the IT based e-Governance projects and are working under the administrative control of Information Technology Department.
However, it has been noticed that both these agencies are handling many IT based projects on their own and without the knowledge and approval of the Information Technology Department resulting into duplication of resources and efforts, official sources told Excelsior.
It has further been noticed that various Government departments, Directorates, offices, autonomous bodies, Corporations, local bodies and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) etc in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are approaching NIC and CSC e-Governance Services India Limited directly for the IT and e-Governance related projects without bringing into the knowledge of the Information Technology Department, sources further said.
“This undesirable act was recently examined in the Information Technology Department and accordingly it has been felt that there is a dire need to streamline the working of these agencies in the interest of better control and administration of IT based projects besides making optimum utilization of domain expertise of these agencies for achieving the goals of Digital J&K”, they informed.
Keeping all these aspects in mind, Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to the Government, Information Technology Department, has issued detailed instructions to all the Administrative Secretaries, all Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officer of CSC e-Governance Services India Limited for strict compliance.
As per the instructions, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited and National Informatics Centre J&K have been asked not to work on any e-Governance or IT based project without the prior knowledge of the Information Technology Department.
Drawing attention towards the instructions issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology vide Letter No. 2(21)/2009-EG-II dated March 15, 2013 and CSC-SPV operating guidelines, the Principal Secretary to Government Information Technology Department has asked the CSC e-Governance Services India Limited and National Informatics Centre that if approached by any department or Government office for any IT or e-Governance related activities especially involving proposals (DPRs and RFPs), purchases/procurements etc they must take a written consent and get the same reviewed and approved from the IT Department before its final submission to the user department.
“No department or Government office will approach directly to NIC or CSC e-Governance Services India Limited regarding their IT based requirements, designing of projects/proposals or any other consultancy related activities without routing the same through Information Technology Department”, read the instructions.
It has been mentioned that the IT Department has already created the core infrastructure like Data Centre J&K and has got developed various Government to Citizen Services under the State Service Delivery Gateway and other e-Governance projects which are available online and also through Common Service Centres established under CSC Schemes.
“This has eliminated need of having isolated and distributed hardware environment which is costly to manage and maintain. The State Wide Area Network (SWAN) will also be in place shortly which will provide connectivity to all district and block headquarters”, the Principal Secretary IT Department said, adding “this infrastructure can optimally be utilized by the Government only if the coordination is done through the Information Technology Department”.
All the concerned authorities have been asked to strictly adhere to the instructions failing which Information Technology Department will not be responsible for failure of any IT based initiative in any user department/office.
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