Government deal with RCom raises questions

Arjun RaghunathFirst Published : 27 Mar 2010 10:20:59 AM ISTLast Updated : 28 Mar 2010 10:10:19 AM IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amidst a row over handing over the management of the State Data Centre (SDC) to Reliance Communication, it has come to light that the bandwidth of the SDC has been almost trippled immediately after the Reliance clinched the deal.


Sources told ‘Express’ that the bandwidth of SDC that was 34 mbps was increased to 100 mbps in February, two months after the Reliance was handed-over the management of the SDC in December 2009.

The State exchequer would incur an additional expense of around Rs 20 lakh with the enhancement of the bandwidth.

While officials of Reliance Communication and Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) maintain that the bandwidth was increased in view of heavy traffic, a section of officials at the IT Department point out that the incompetency of the Reliance officials in handling the data centre had forced for an enhancement of the bandwidth.

‘‘Until a couple of months back even at the time of peak traffic only 60 percent of the bandwidth of 34 mbps was utilised,’’ said sources.

The Commercial Taxes department had complained that there was lack of speed, especially during online filing of Value Added Tax.

Sources at Commercial Taxes department admit that there were no major issues during the previous years.

These developments further strengthen the allegations that the KSITM had diluted various key norms in the tender for selecting an agency for managing the SDC.

As per the initial tender norm, experience in maintaining a data centre was required. It was later altered as experience in running ‘internet’ data centre. IT experts point out that maintaining an internet data centre did not require much skill as that of a data centre.

It is also alleged that many of the officials appointed by the Reliance Communication at the SDC are not qualified enough to manage a data centre.KSITM Director Rathan Khelkar, however, said that the bandwidth was increased in view of complaints of slow data transfer during peak hours.

‘‘There is an increasing use of the e-Governance applications and hence the bandwidth was enhanced after conducting trial runs, ‘’ he told ‘Express’.

Meanwhile, P C George MLA, who had earlier raised the issue in the Assembly gave a written request to the Chief Minister the other day demanding a detailed probe into the awarding of the contract to Reliance Communication.