Chandigarh, March 12– Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal said that the State Government is in the process of formulating a ‘Data Centre Policy’ for the first time to provide impetus to the development and growth of the Large Data Centre Industry. The policy aims to provide regulatory and fiscal benefits on land and infrastructure, power, renewable energy, water and connectivity for setting up of a Data Centre ecosystem.

The Chief Minister, who also holds Finance portfolio, disclosed this while presenting the State Budget for the year 2021-22 during the ongoing budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha today.

He said that State Government will be focusing on improving digital connectivity at tehsils, sub-tehsils and blocks for delivery of Government services, with increased emphasis on cyber security including security of networks and data protection.

 He said that during Covid-19 the Government took a big leap towards re-orienting its approach to e-governance by constantly developing and improving e-governance applications in-house. This reduced the time and costs for launching new IT applications enabling constant upgradation and boosting internal capacities.

In the past year, The Information Technology and Electronics department has launched Meri Fasal Mera Byora and e-Kharid. One-Time Registration portal for the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, Online Registration and Admission portal for higher education admissions, Online registration through web-HALRIS and digitization of revenue records were some of the prominent examples of this approach. The Government has launched the ‘Jan Sahayak App’ as a one-stop cell phone based solution for all Government services, schemes and benefits including emergency services, he added.

He said that going forward, the State Government has put in place a dedicated “Entrepreneur & Startup Policy” that provides an all-round development of the Startup Ecosystem by laying an equal emphasis on providing the smart infrastructure and conducive business environment.

“I am happy to state that with the efforts of the Speaker and the House Committee, the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) to transform the Vidhan Sabha to make it paperless is being implemented”,  Mr Manohar Lal said.

 He said that IT Manpower resources would be augmented to enable in house development of e-governance applications in all Government Departments. Implementation of e-office will be completed in all of Government Departments including Boards, Corporations and Universities.