Ministry Wants It Majors To Team-Up For Ne

The ministry of information technology is learnt to have held discussions with infotech majors Compaq, IBM and Hughes Software Solutions, and mooted the idea of them forming a consortium to help the ministry implement the Computer Information Centre network in the Northeast.

"We have already begun discussions with other infotech players to form a consortium to help the government implement the projects," sources confirmed.

As per plans of the government, the outside agencies would set up the network, while the government would be owning the network.

The first phase of setting up of Computer Information Centres in 487 blocks, in seven Northeast states, including Sikkim, will be completed soon and will be functional from August 15 this year.

 

The first phase includes setting up these information centres in 30 blocks; 15 in Assam and two each in each of the remaining six states, and three in Tripura. According to sources, various state governments have identified the locations for these centres, and work on them will start soon.

The second phase of the Rs 220 crore project would start once the pilot project is completed. According to sources, the government is planing to bring in other players as partners at this stage.

As part of the ministry's increased thrust in the Northeast, the government is also planing to set up incubation centres in collaboration with various state governments, including Sikkim at the Guwahati STPI. This STPI will be functional by August 1 this year.

The STPI Guwahati is being set at Rs 5 crore, with the state government contributing Rs 1 crore. In addition to this, the ministry is also setting up a hub centre in Guwahati.

Education Research Network (ERNET) is setting up 2 Mbps terrestrial backbone link between Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Calcutta and IIT Guwahati for terrestrial communication. IIT Guwahati will act as the gateway and will be connected on a countrywide high speed backbone being set-up by ERNET.

"This will connect all the universities in the Northeast to the world," source said.

In addition to this, the government is also planing to set up the Centre for Electron Design and Technology of India in the Northeast.

Currently, there are two centres existing at Tezpur and Imphal and now plans are to set up the third centre in Aizwal with a total investment of Rs 2.5 crore. The centre will be operational by October 2000.

The government is also working on a project on capacity building for information technology for department of personnel and training at the state level for the Northeast.

The ministry of Information Technology is implementing the above project in the country at a total cost of Rs 15 crore at the rate of Rs 50 lakh for each state.