Shimla: Finally the State Data Centre (SDC) may come up as a draft document ‘Request For Proposal’ (REP) for setting up one was ready and would be soon submitted to the union governments Department of Information Technology at the earliest.
Reacting to media reports about Sachin Pilot, the union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology expressing displeasure over Himachal Pradesh’s having failed to send “request for proposal†to set up a SDC as part of core infrastructure in the country’s e-governance plans, a state government spokesman responded that a draft document was ready.
Pilot letter to Himachal government dated June 7 states, “It has been observed that the RFP for SDC is yet to be received from Himachal Pradesh even as the proposal had been duly approved by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) in March 2008.â€
For the delays, the state government spokesman held out that “In a fast changing environment for IT technologies and new concepts like Green Data Centre, enhancement in the configuration of hardware, improvement in storage technologies, virtualization concept, cloud computing and changes in cooling methods of servers would benefit the upcoming SDC by adopting the latest technologies.
As the SDC required a floor height of 14 feet and a load bearing capacity of 1500 Kg per square meter, the state commissioned Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA), to construct a building to specifications on 24th November, 2009. Work was in progress, he said.
As part of National e-governance Plan (NeGP), in 2008, the centre had proposed to link all 35 states and union territories (UTs).
NeGP envisages deployment of all e-governance applications and e-enabled citizens services in the state. The union ministry targets to make all SDCs functional by June 2011.
Himachal does not count among the 26 states that till date had submitted their draft RFP, and of which 21 had even been cleared. In fact 12 SDCs are expected to become operational by December 2010.
Progress was being monitored at the highest level with the prime minister’s office (PMO), the Planning Commission and Cabinet secretariat being provided a progress update every fortnight.
Himachal Pradesh is expected to get a support of about Rs 40 crore from the Centre for setting up the State Data Centre, which once operational would provide one stop citizen services, cutting down delays and helping to curb corruption.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
