iPads fail to click with laptop-loving councillors

The whole world may stand in line to buy one, but councillors from the North Delhi Corporation aren’t too keen on getting free iPads for work.

The whole world may stand in line to buy one, but councillors from the North Delhi Corporation aren’t too keen on getting free iPads for work.

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Offered a choice between the iPad 2 and the humble laptop to improve their work efficiency, the leaders chose the latter. “We do not know much about an iPad, so when given a choice, we opted for the time-tested laptop. What exactly does an iPad do?” leader of the house Mahender Nagpal said.

The cash-strapped corporation will now acquire laptops for all 104 councillors, though the iPads would have been cheaper when purchased in bulk. The budget has been kept at R25,000 per laptop.

However, despite rejecting the Apple invention, several councillors have demanded high-end laptops of the same brand. “Some councillors want Apple laptops, but they are expensive and the budget will not allow it,” a senior official said.

This isn’t the first time the elected representatives, who act as a bridge between residents and the bureaucracy, have found it difficult to embrace new technology. In 2007, when the MCD councillors were first given laptops, many of them asked for operators since they did not know how to use them.