Odisha Govt Plans To Connect All Panchayats With Video-Conferencing

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government plans to connect all panchayats through video-conferencing to keep the panchayats digitally connected.

This was stated by IT secretary Manoj Kumar Mishra on Tuesday after the performance review of Electronics and IT department by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Mishra said video-conferencing facilities have already been made available from the state to the block level.

“Optical fibre connectivity has been provided to all panchayats. We plan to connect all panchayats through video conferencing mode so that the government can directly connect all GPs at once,” he said. Steps have been taken to provide 4G mobile connectivity to all unconnected villages in a year, he added.

He further said lack of telecom network has been posing a problem for state administration. The government took note of the problems faced by the students in rural areas for attending online classes during the COVID pandemic.

The Chief Minister took up the matter with the Centre and got sanction for telecom towers. To speed up the telecom tower establishment work, the Odisha Cabinet has decided to provide 2000 sq ft of land free of cost, the secretary said.

Mishra said the coverage of the Odisha State Workflow Automation System (OSWAS) has been extended to all departments in the Secretariat, directorates/HoDs, district collectorates and the DG and SP offices, covering around 15,000 users.

Minister Tusharkanti Behera briefed the chief minister on the important initiatives undertaken by the E&IT department and the transformational impact of these initiatives on governance and citizens.