E-governance at panchayat level reviewed for second phase

Srinagar: In the second phase of providing internet connectivity in the rural areas and panchayats of Jammu and Kashmir, the government has decided to provide 3,195 additional gram panchayats with internet connectivity.
Recently Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Arun Kumar Mehta while reviewing the rural internet connectivity has impressed upon the Rural Development Department to ensure that Net-enabled gram panchayats functioned properly, so that they could be used as hubs to connect youth clubs and anganwadi centres. The government of Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past has started making the administration transparent and corruption free by switching over to e-governance. On the instruction of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the J&K administration on Thursday has said that they will soon roll out e-governance at the grass-roots level for the phase second in Jammu and Kashmir, with the initial program of providing internet connectivity to 3,195 additional gram panchayats under the Bharat Broadband Scheme.
In the recent past not only Manoj Sinha, but also J&K Chief Secretary has been reviewing the implementation of the Bharat net scheme in J&K. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has also established youth clubs at many panchayats and they are also now trying to empower the panchayats with net connectivity so that the system becomes transparent and the administration could intervene for the betterment of the villages from the civil secretariat. The Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir has also reviewed the implementation of the Bharat net scheme in rural areas also. According to the senior officers dealing with the net connectivity issues, so far 408 gram panchayats and 14 block headquarters had been provided with Internet connection through optical fibre cable, while 658 had been VSAT-enabled for Internet connectivity. Recently, many panchayat members have complained to the government that the net connectivity was not working properly at the grass root level and it invited immediate response from the government. The Chief Secretary has directed the planning development and monitoring department to verify the functionality and efficiency of the internet facilities already established in 1081 gram panchayats by holding interactions with the officers either through video conferences or Google meet.