The government on Thursday approved second phase of modernisation of post offices at a cost of Rs 1,877 crore. As per the decision, all departmental and Grameen Dak Sevak (GDS) post offices in the country will be computerised.
The approval has also been accorded for creation of IT infrastructure, including establishment of data centre, networking of the departmental post offices, development of scalable, integrated and modular software for all operations of the postal department. The project will be implemented over a three year period covering till 2012-13.
The department of posts will float tenders for procurement of hardware and development of software and the final roll out will be completed by September 2012, an official release stated, giving details of the decision taken by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The government will introduce banking solutions for the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) scheme. Postal life insurance services will be available in all post offices including those in rural areas. The CCEA also approved the proposal of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Administration for acquisition of two 400-passenger vessels at an indicative cost of Rs 360 crore to mitigate the transport difficulties experienced by the people of the region.
In another decision, the Cabinet committee gave its nod for using the grant of Rs 610 crore approved by the Global Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria. The project aims to cover 60% of HIV positive pregnant women in the country with prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV services and to diagnose and refer for treatment 70% of patients co-infected with HIV or tuberculosis.
Source:-http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Second-phase-of-IT-modernisation-at-post-offices-gets-Cabinet-approval/672773/
