Siliguri gets its first IT association

Kolkata, Jan 25

After years of multiple initiatives undertaken by the local IT
dealers of Siliguri, it was at the end of last Dec that the efforts ultimately
materialized and Siliguri got its first IT dealers' association.

Christened as IT Dealers Association of Siliguri (ITDAS), the
association was the long-term aspiration of the local IT trading community,
which has finally taken form. "The DQ Week IT Panchayat held
last December provided us with the much required neutral platform where the idea
was strongly floated and influenced the dealers present there. From there we
successfully took it further and thus the IT Dealers Association of Siliguri was
formed," said Gitesh Tibrewal, President, ITDAS.

Spearheaded by Asim Raina, Group Editor-Channel Publications,
CyberMedia the discussion held at the panchayat ended with all the
participants agreeing to the need for an association and its benefit for the
trade. It was declared at the venue itself that an association would be formed
shortly and three volunteers from the channel were chosen to materialize the
job. Within the next 25 days the first ever IT association of Siliguri was
finalized and floated over a meeting between the IT trading fraternity.

Presently there are 13 office bearers working under the
association. The chosen ones are Gitesh Tibrewal, President; Prasanta Pandit,
VP; Manish Agarwal, Secretary, Rajesh Bhutra, Jt Secretary; Arvind Maheshwari,
Treasurer; apart from eight other executive body members.

"We believe now that the association is active it will be
beneficial for the overall growth and betterment of the Siliguri IT market. The
association will act neutrally and will take care of all issues related to the
industry and those faced by the members and will try to resolve them
accordingly," stated Tibrewal. "It will help us to streamline the
market and make it work in an organized way as well as deal with any problems in
future," he remarked.

According to Tibrewal ITDAS has received 40 membership
applications in the last 10 days since the formation of the association was made
public and is expecting 10 more in the next few days. It has also has joined
hands with Kaleidoscope to organize the forthcoming Siliguri Computer Fair.
"We are expecting that with the local association supporting the event, it
will achieve a new height altogether and the members and participants will get
better mileage. We have also appointed one project chairman for the job,"
informed Tibrewal.

Meanwhile, once the fair is over, the association will work on a
more defined role for the executive body members and will decide on its future
course of action.