MP Mailer

Bhilai STP

The Software Technology Park of India to be established at Bhilai will be a gateway to international software destinations for Indian firms and expertise, said Mahendra Karma, State Industry Minister in the State assembly recently. The park would encourage software production in the state and encourage investments in export units. Karma said that seven acres of land has already been purchased on January 26, 2001 for setting up the park. The Chattisgarh Infotec Promotion Society (CHIPS) has been formed for the implementation of the state's IT policies, the Minister added. The Chattisgarh Online Information for Citizen Empowerment (CHOICE) project has been prepared for the development of e-governance in the state. On the basis of this network, networking of Raipur (urban) will be done. The development of a video conferencing system is in progress, which will encourage a government-citizen interaction under the CHICE project. CHIPS has been allocated a budget of Rs. 6.20-crore, out of which an amount of Rs 3.40-crore has already been spent.

15,000 rural BSNL connections

BSNL will provide about 15,000 telephone connections by March 2002 in the villages where cable has not yet been installed, by using the Code Division Multiple Exchange (CDME) and Time Division Multiple Exchange (TDME) Point system. With the use of CDME, most telephone connections can be given from one exchange. Connections can be provided by the WiLL technology without installing cable lines. Testing of nearly 2,000 connections is presently going on in Chhatarpur and if the performance is found satisfactory, it will be installed in the villages of the following districts: Balaghat, Betul, Seoni, Khargone, Chhindwara, Rewa, Guna, Bhind and Morena. Connections with the TDME point system will be given to village in the districts of Gwalior, Khargone, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Satna, Seoni, Balaghat, Betul, Chhatarpur, Damh and
Dewas.

Police stern on cyber cafés

Intelligence agencies and the district police have begun keeping a close eye on Internet cafes in the state and are taking detailed information about the users. This began following the arrest of a Pakistani terrorist in Maharashtra. The terrorist revealed that he was sending secret information to his country through the misuse of Internet. Police have been alerted on possible communication networking by these elements, which might lead to disturbances in the State under the prevailing international drive against terrorism. Sources say that Net cafés owners in Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain and Jabalpur have been informed to keep track of the regular users and to immediately inform the local police in case of any suspicion. Police have begun pressurizing the owners to maintain detailed records of the users and that of the sites they visit. Though the police have no official powers to gather details relating to Net surfing by the users as a law-enforcing agency, it is nevertheless taking the liberty of bullying Internet cafés and checking on the sites being visited by the users.

Computer lab worth Rs 75 lakh

Ajay Singh, Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development recently inaugurated an advanced computer laboratory at the Oriental Institute of Science and Technology. The advanced computer laboratory, up after inculcating the cost of Rs 75 lakh, is the sixth computer laboratory of the institute. Equipped with 40 P4 systems supplied by Wipro, it would benefit about 260 students of MCA and BE. The laboratory will promote research and development activities and develop new software.

NIC fails to train

The National Informatics Center (NIC) has reportedly failed in its commitment to provide computer training to Mantralaya officials. The center was given a two-year contract for the maintenance of computers and the training of senior officers at the Mantralaya (Secretariat) three years ago. The contract was released after the installation of more than 300 computers in different departments at Vallabh
Bhawan. Most IAS officials posted at the Mantralaya learned computers on the strength of their own resources as some of them also have personal computers at home, but section officers and the State administrative rank officers are still alien to the machine and even abstain from using them. PK
Mehrotra, Chief Secretary, who is apparently annoyed with delays in the training, has reportedly directed the NIC officials assertively.