Lenovo erases wrong maps from laptops of I-T dept

MUMBAI: Two days after TOI reported about the distorted Indian maps in wallpapers on laptops supplied to the income-tax department, the supplier (Lenovo) has started removing it.

The systems department of the income-tax department has informed its officials about the time and day of the company’s visit. "{In some laptops, they have already removed it. In the next few days, the entire exercise should be over," an income tax official said.

China-headquartered Lenovo had supplied 2,500 laptops to the department in mid-February . In the wallpapers installed in these computers, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir was shown in Pakistan and Aksai Chin was mentioned as being in China.
India has all along maintained that Aksai Chin is a part of Indian territory though China has disputed that and claims it falls in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK), which India refers to as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), is also a territory claimed by India but controlled by Pakistan.

The laptops were made in the company’s Puducherry unit and the software came from the US. Lenovo country manager (marketing) K Ramakrishnan said that the company would reach out to everyone who had the map on the laptops and get it deleted.

"We understand it is a sensitive issue. It was not intended to depict geographical or political boundaries," he said.