Srinagar, July 27 (Newswire): All efforts by the puppet Jammu and Kashmir regime to ensure e-governance in the Sate seem to be going in vain as major schemes funded by India have been grounded before their take-off.
A crucial project worth Rs 53 crore titled 'State Wide Area Network (SWAN)' aimed at bringing accountability in the system is stuck in a series of technical hitches, especially the tendering process.
The project, according to sources, is yet to be executed after being approved by the Union IT Ministry in 2005.
According to official documents, SWAN is envisaged to create a connectivity in the State to bring speed, efficiency, reliability and accountability in overall system of the Government functioning.
"When implemented, SWAN would work as a converged backbone network for voice, video and data communications across State. SWAN is designed to cater to the governance information and communication requirements of entire State," the documents read.
However, the prestigious project has yet to come out of the tendering process.
"Jammu and Kashmir E-Governance Agency (JKEGA) had floated tenders and received bids on December 28 last year. The bidding process is still on," the documents reveal. Sources said tendering process is on for the past more than three years.
Minister of State for Information and Technology, Feroz Khan said the Government of India has already earmarked Rs 53 crore for the SWAN project. "We have received a lowest bid of Rs 70 Crore so far. But there are some other difficulties due to which the tendering process hasn't been closed," he said.
Khan said that they have taken up the issue with the Union IT Minister Kapil Sibal. "We hope that the Union IT Ministry would guide us to overcome the hurdles in establishing SWAN," the Minister said.
Sources said after tendering process, the State will face another challenge which is that of identification of land for laying wires. "Land acquisition is always a problem in JK," sources said.
The official documents reveal that the vertical component of SWAN would be implemented using multi-tier architecture (typically-three-tier) with the State headquarter connected to each district headquarter which in turn will get connected to each block headquarter.
SWAN, the documents state, would facilitate vertical as well as horizontal connectivity between various departments and offices for roll out services to common man. "The J&K cabinet has already made it mandatory for all companies to have a local company (of JK) as a partner while bidding for SWAN," the documents read. "In JK, SWAN aims to establish a secure network consisting of 174 points of presence (PoPs) at State, district and block headquarters."
Pertinently, Government of India (GOI) approved SWAN project in 2005, with financial outlay of Rs 3000 crore for various states across India.
Sources said JK is lagging behind other states in setting up of SWAN as 20 states, including those in Northeast and other underdeveloped states, are reaping the benefits of the e-program.
According to sources, initially National Informatics Centre (NIC) was chosen as agency for implementing the SWAN in the state but due to reasons best known to the IT department the project was withdrawn from them in 2009.
"The JK government then decided to go for Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for implementing the project. However, there is no headway in that as the project continues to be engulfed in tendering process," they said.
A crucial project worth Rs 53 crore titled 'State Wide Area Network (SWAN)' aimed at bringing accountability in the system is stuck in a series of technical hitches, especially the tendering process.
The project, according to sources, is yet to be executed after being approved by the Union IT Ministry in 2005.
According to official documents, SWAN is envisaged to create a connectivity in the State to bring speed, efficiency, reliability and accountability in overall system of the Government functioning.
"When implemented, SWAN would work as a converged backbone network for voice, video and data communications across State. SWAN is designed to cater to the governance information and communication requirements of entire State," the documents read.
However, the prestigious project has yet to come out of the tendering process.
"Jammu and Kashmir E-Governance Agency (JKEGA) had floated tenders and received bids on December 28 last year. The bidding process is still on," the documents reveal. Sources said tendering process is on for the past more than three years.
Minister of State for Information and Technology, Feroz Khan said the Government of India has already earmarked Rs 53 crore for the SWAN project. "We have received a lowest bid of Rs 70 Crore so far. But there are some other difficulties due to which the tendering process hasn't been closed," he said.
Khan said that they have taken up the issue with the Union IT Minister Kapil Sibal. "We hope that the Union IT Ministry would guide us to overcome the hurdles in establishing SWAN," the Minister said.
Sources said after tendering process, the State will face another challenge which is that of identification of land for laying wires. "Land acquisition is always a problem in JK," sources said.
The official documents reveal that the vertical component of SWAN would be implemented using multi-tier architecture (typically-three-tier) with the State headquarter connected to each district headquarter which in turn will get connected to each block headquarter.
SWAN, the documents state, would facilitate vertical as well as horizontal connectivity between various departments and offices for roll out services to common man. "The J&K cabinet has already made it mandatory for all companies to have a local company (of JK) as a partner while bidding for SWAN," the documents read. "In JK, SWAN aims to establish a secure network consisting of 174 points of presence (PoPs) at State, district and block headquarters."
Pertinently, Government of India (GOI) approved SWAN project in 2005, with financial outlay of Rs 3000 crore for various states across India.
Sources said JK is lagging behind other states in setting up of SWAN as 20 states, including those in Northeast and other underdeveloped states, are reaping the benefits of the e-program.
According to sources, initially National Informatics Centre (NIC) was chosen as agency for implementing the SWAN in the state but due to reasons best known to the IT department the project was withdrawn from them in 2009.
"The JK government then decided to go for Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for implementing the project. However, there is no headway in that as the project continues to be engulfed in tendering process," they said.
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