Goa joins hands with ICICI Bank for IT solutions

PANAJI: The Goa government has joined hands with 3i infotech, which is promoted by ICICI Bank, to provide information technology solutions and take government schemes to villages.

"3i infotech will set up 208 kiosks all over the state with active participation of local entrepreneurs," Information Technology Minister Dayanand Narvekar told reporters here on Wednesday.

The venture, one of the first of its kind in the country, will help citizens access all government services by visiting the kiosks.

"We have computerised 28 government departments till date. All 84 state government departments, including public sector undertakings, will be computerised in the next three months," Narvekar said.

This, he said, will enable people to access almost allgovernment services through the internet. The 3i infotech will have a dedicated portal that will be a vehicle for accessing all government services.

"The project is on a public-private partnership basis, and at the end of five years, the technology partner will have to transfer the entire assets of the state data centre, portal and citizen service centres to the government at zero cost," Narvekar said.

"This scheme does not only provide services available to citizens but also provides entrepreneur opportunities to local Goan youths," Narvekar said. The state government expects that the project will get a boost once its broadband connectivity scheme takes shape early next year. It has envisaged an ambitious project to connect all villages and households through a broadband network.

"The broadband project is a parallel one. But it will help the 3i project as all villages will be connected," Chief Secretary J P Singh told media.

"The 3i project will be rolled out in the months to come and will cover almost all Goan villages," said Anirudh Prabhakaran, 3i Infotech's chief operating officer for South Asia.