Kohima, January 30 (MTNews): The Chief Electoral Officer of Nagaland, V Shashank Shekhar IAS convened a meeting today in connection with power supply and internet and telecommunication network in the state.
The Chief Electoral Officer highlighted the importance of various election related IT applications along with timeline for implementation of the applications such as management of permissions, nominations, poll data and counting data through ENCORE.
He also briefed about management of Electoral Roll through ERONet, regular conduct of video conference meetings and trainings during election period and webcasting at polling stations, and as such, the crucial requirement of stable power supply and internet and telecommunication network during the election period.
Joint Secretary & OSD to CEO, Hiazu Meru suggested that Nodal Officers may be nominated from each of the above departments or agencies for better coordination. He also suggested opening a WhatsApp group with nodal officers of these departments or agencies.
SIO, NIC highlighted irregular power supply, particularly in rural districts which cause interruption in running of IT systems and power backups were discussed.
The Additional Chief Engineer (D&R), Power Department briefed about the status of electrification in polling stations that work has been initiated and will be completed shortly. Senior Program Officer, Department of IT & C informed that officials from the department have been deputed to CEO’s Office, Office of the DC & DEO, Kohima and other Districts based on requirement.
He assured proper maintenance and uninterrupted service at the State Data Centre to the extent possible. The AGM (Plg), BSNL highlighted power backup issues which affect proper running of the network systems. He assured that BSNL will keep track of any faults that may develop in any district and get it resolved.
Telecom Service Providers highlighted the issue of fiber cuts, tower rental issues, support for running generators in the districts, etc.
Representatives from the following departments and agencies attended the meeting: Department of Power; Department of IT & C; NIC; TSPs – BSNL, Reliance-Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea.
The following officers from the CEO’s Office attended the meeting with the CEO: Hiazu Meru, Joint Secretary & OSD; Awa Lorin, Joint CEO and Ketousie-ti Khruomo, AEO (MIS).