DEHRADUN: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan conducted a comprehensive review of the Information Technology Department at the Secretariat on Wednesday. During the meeting, the Secretary of the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) presented a detailed overview of various ongoing projects and initiatives across the state.
Emphasizing the importance of future-readiness, Chief Secretary Bardhan directed officials to strengthen ITDA and ensure that system upgrades are planned in alignment with the state’s requirements for the next five to seven years. He stressed the adoption of a hybrid model, combining State Data Centre (SDC) and cloud infrastructure, while continuously enhancing ITDA’s capacity.
Bardhan also instructed that departmental websites and applications should be developed through ITDA to maintain uniformity and efficiency. Additionally, he highlighted the need for ITDA to offer cloud services to various government departments.
Departments that handle large volumes of data were asked to communicate their projected storage requirements to ITDA, enabling the agency to plan and scale storage infrastructure accordingly. The Chief Secretary also emphasized the importance of strengthening ITDA’s institutional memory to ensure system continuity even when key personnel leave.
ITDA Director Nitika Khandelwal informed the meeting that the State Data Centre (SDC), established in 2018, is now being upgraded to SDC 2.0, which will significantly boost data storage capacity. She added that the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) has been fully implemented across all districts and block headquarters, with 2,036 government offices currently connected.
Khandelwal also shared that ITDA is making significant progress in cybersecurity and in-house software development. Key projects such as the Unified Command Centre (UCC), PM Gati Shakti Uttarakhand, Chardham Dashboard, CM Helpline, e-Office, and Aapuni Sarkar Portal are being developed and managed by ITDA.
The meeting was also attended by Secretary Shailesh Bagoli, Nitesh Kumar Jha, Brijesh Kumar Sant, Additional Secretary Reena Joshi, and other senior officials.
