Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji (RS)

Panaji, Aug 22: Goa government carved out a public private partnership (PPP) project with ICICI bank promoted 3i Infotech to provide information technology solutions and take the government schemes to all the villages.
 
``3i Infotech will set up 208 kiosks all over the state with active participation of local entrepreneurs,'' state information technology minister Dayanand Narvekar told the reporters.
 
The venture, one of its kind in the country, will help the citizens access all the government services by visiting the kiosk. “We have computerized 28 government departments till date. All the 84 state government departments including public sector undertakings will be computerized in next three months,'' Narvekar said.
 
This, according to him, will enable access to almost all the government services through net.
 
The 3i will have a dedicated portal which will be a vehicle for the access of all the government services.
 
“The project is on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis wherein at the end of five years, the technology partner will have to transfer the entire assets of state data centre, portal and citizen service centers (CSC) to government at zero cost,'' Narvekar said.
 
“This scheme does not only provide the services available to thee citizens but also provide entrepreneur opportunities to the local Goan youths,”Narvekar said.
 
The state government expects that the 3i project will get boost once its broadband connectivity project will take shape sometimes beginning next year. Goa government has envisaged an ambitious project to connect all the villages and households through broadband.
 
“The broadband project is a parallel one… But it will help the 3i project as all the villages will be connected,” Goa chief secretary J P Singh stated.
 
“The 3i project will be rolled out in the months to come and will cover almost all the Goan villages,'' Anirudh Prabhakaran, chief operating officer, South Asia, 3i Infotech, stated.