₹300-crore push to make state digital services faster, smoother

Cabinet nod to MahaNet; health, agriculture, edu depts to get digital infra first

In a push to the state’s e-governance plan, the cabinet on Tuesday approved Urban MahaNet, a ₹300 crore-project under which an optic fibre network will be laid to give smooth last-mile connectivity in urban areas.

MahaNet will be available in rural and urban areas (HT Photo)

Once the optic fibre cable (OFC) network is ready, three departments – public health, agriculture and education – will introduce services using the digital infrastructure, according to a senior information technology (IT) department official. In the next three years, all departments will switch to digital modes in the next three years.

According to officials, the agriculture department will be asked to launch registration of farmers in APMC, allotment of fertilizers and crop insurance schemes online, once the network is ready. Similarly, under the e-health plan, tele-medicine and document management system of hospitals will go online. The education department will use the network to expand the virtual classroom project and run a pilot project of virtual labs in schools.

“Currently, the network is small, with very low speed. It is made available for specific projects, with limited bandwidth. Through this large-scale programme, we hope to connect the urban areas in the state with a high-speed digital set-up. Once this is done, departments will launch digital services using this network,” said a senior IT department official.

He said currently the budget for the project is ₹300 crore, of which 10% is the software cost and the remaining is the hardware cost, which would be borne by the three departments.

The state has already initiated a programme, MahaNet, to connect rural areas using the OFC network.

The government also plans to roll out a “right of way” policy that will give network providers all requisite clearances through a single-window clearance system. “Our aim is to ensure minimum hurdles. A right of way or single-window clearance system will be put in place to implement projects and schemes smoothly and at a faster pace,” said a senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity.