We have earned Rs 700 crore from e-Sampark centers in the last three years

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