* Advisor discusses recommendations of workshop
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 24: Advisor to Governor, K Skandan, today chaired the concluding session of a workshop to discuss recommendations over the implementation of hi-speed internet connectivity to Gram Panchayats in the State.
While chairing the valedictory session of the two-day workshop on ‘Extension of Broadband and Internet Connectivity to all Gram Panchayats’ of the State under BharatNet, the Advisor suggested a hybrid model having both constituents of Bandwidth hiring (OPEX Model) and Fiber Laying and Owning (CAPEX Model).
He said that J&K for being a strategic State can start with the service delivery and move on to the infrastructure thing and then move on the model of owning the infrastructure and subsequently it would be beneficial for the State in the long run.
The Advisor informed that the State Government would send its proposal to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) at the earliest for approval.
He said the State will also take in consideration the experiences from other States while finalizing the project for Panchayat Internet Connectivity.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary DoT, Aruna Sundararajan said the Government of India would support whatever model the State Government chooses, adding the two options (OPEX and CAPEX) presented during a presentation were with a realistic estimation and also highlighted the pros and cons of the project.
“We are committed to fully supporting the Govt of J&K on whatever model they take. The State Govt will have to make that evaluation, but in case of J&K, we are willing to support whatever is the best in the interest of the State Govt and whatever they decide we will support that. And we will also support it in terms of funding, technical capabilities among other things,” she added.
The panel discussion session was attended by Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce (Additional charge of Administrative Secretary, Information Technology Department/CEO JaKeGA), Navin Kumar Choudhary, Secretary Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Sheetal Nanda, MD, JKIT Infrastructure Corporation and MD SIDCO, Ravinder Kumar, Director Operational BBNL, VP Singh, DDG (Special Projects) Department of Telecom, GoI, Deepak Chanduka, Senior DDG, Department of Technology, Rakesh Kumar Dubey, CMD BBNL, Survesh Singh, Chief Engineer PDD, Qazi Hashmat, Project Manager, JaKeGA, IT Department, Irfan Rather, representatives of telecom operators and other concerned.
Earlier, Project Manager, JaKeGA, IT Department, Irfan Rather gave a detailed presentation about different aspects of the project like Phase-I and Phase-II, besides costs and models to implement the project in the State.
He said that the project will pave way for rolling out of any kind of bandwidth intense e-governance services at the Panchayat level.
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