Thursday August 2, 02:01 AM
Rlys to spend 3% of its budget on IT
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In a bid to become more tech-savvy, the railway ministry has decided to spend about 3% of its budget annually on information technology (IT) related activities. The railways would spend a total of about Rs 930-crore of its Rs 31,000-crore budget for 2007-08. The decision comes after the Planning Commission suggested that the railways should spend 3% of its budget on IT related activities during the 11th Plan. In the offing is the decision to provide laptops in the current fiscal to all the officers, which will be linked to the railway network. The ministry hopes to optimise its efficiency and also ensure that they can be on the job anytime. Next fiscal, the ministry plans to expand the facility and provide laptops to supervisor or superintendent-level railway men as well. The move would benefit a majority of the 8,224 officers who belong to the Group A or are gazetted officers. The cost is unlikely to prove a hindrance to the initiative as the ministry reasons that laptops have now become cheaper than the desktop computers which are used at present by its officers. Former chairman railway board JP Batra said, "The ministry hopes that this would help increase the efficiency of its officers, enable easier communication and co-ordination of its different wings and zones."
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