For e-governance, stable telecom network needed, says Meghalaya Governor

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Governor R S Mooshahary today said e-governance "cannot create impact" in states across the north east region without developing stable telecommunications networks.

"We have to make the inaccessible areas of the northeast accessible. Unless a stable telecommunications network can be developed, e-governance cannot create impact," he said while addressing an e-governance consultative workshop - Citizen Centric e-Government -- aimed at making government services easier accessibility to the citizen and ensuring efficiency, transparency and reliability.

Mooshahary exhorted all stakeholders to use technology as agent of progress and to " embrace change."

Lamenting that poor connectivity is hampering growth, the Governor said that the usual response he gets with regards to the absence of a stable telecommunication network was highly "unsatisfactory."

Every time I was told that the "poor connectivity is due to some cut or an ongoing construction," Mooshahary said, adding that the attitude has to change.

According to him, governance either gets stuck in the status quo or should embrace change.

Terming technology as a tool for progress, he said he believed that the IT industry is here "to redeem us from that state even as he"called for active participation from the citizens who are the biggest stakeholders in the process.

"The information technology industry gives us hope that we will be able to fulfill responsibilities," he said adding that, at present, if the process is delayed, people do not accept it.