Meghalaya Sets up IT Companies to Boost Infrastructure

Shillong (Meghalaya), Mar 10 : Department of Information Technology in Meghalaya is setting up IT companies to provide the benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the youth and boost infrastructure in the region.

The main focus of this move by the State Government is to provide benefits to the poor section of the population, such as youth, government employees and all the other stakeholders.

Implemented under e-governance programs, private companies like ETPL India, Chilli Breeze, Anjaybee Infotech Pvt. Ltd have entered into projects for the development of the IT sector, and would cover areas like infrastructures, and job opportunities for the educated masses.

"The set-up of IT sector in the Northeast especially has helped us a lot. It has given employment to the youth and provided a proper infrastructure, which was badly required for establishing such an establishment," said Manager of Chilli Breeze Debojit Kanwar.

"It requires power, particularly infrastructure, and we have found the best place from the whole Northeast to set up this company for the language issue. Over here, we are looking forward to the youth to come in the forefront," added Kanwar. There are four IT projects initiated in the state, which include State Data Center (SDC), State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), Community Service Center (CSC), and the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), which are smoothly working towards its implementation.

According to A T Mondal, Meghalaya's IT minister, the availability of a large base of English-speaking people gives a huge demographic advantage for establishing IT centers, which can create employment opportunities to the local educated youth.

"We are going ahead with all the programs as by the Department of IT, Government of India as per the national e-governance program. Side by side we are also encouraging various private and semi-government sectors as per the ICT is concerned," said Mondal.

"We are providing some facilities to the schools so that they can get the benefit of the ICT materials from our department," he added.

Mondal further said the objective is to develop platforms that can enable government, private and social sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of rural masses, by reaching the remotest corner of the country and bridging the digital divide by Information and Communication Technology dissemination.