Taking another big leap in governance, the State government is contemplating launching a conference facility, both audio and video, through the Real Time Governance (RTG) centre at the Secretariat shortly. The facility would help in connecting to one lakh people at a time through their mobile phones — both smart and feature — with plans to scale it up to 10 lakh before 2019.
The government is availing itself of the services of the U.S.-based firm Polycom, which provides the video, the voice and the content solutions. A trial run would be conducted in the next 10 days. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is expected to participate in it and talk to the officials/ employees directly from the RTG centre. The idea is to provide a platform to talk to even field level staff through video conference. And, a mobile app is being developed for this, sources say.
The government, in fact, has plans to connect to the people/households through this facility for various purposes including feedback on the implementation of the welfare and developmental schemes. For this, the AP State Fiber Net Limited project, would be utilised. Every household can be connected to the RTG Centre. The Chief Minister plans to talk to the people directly in the next couple of months. Hundred of screens on the video wall at the RTG Centre can be displayed right now, RTG officials say.
When contacted, RTG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Babu. A said the video conferencing earlier was room based. The government was taking it to the next level — mobile phone. A “video conferencing bridge” is being established wherein more than 10 lakh can be connected at time. In just two to three minutes, the Chief Minister or the Ministers can talk to a lakh beneficiaries of a given scheme etc. Or talk to field staff, who need not come to video conferencing room. It’s a two-way communication. All types of platforms such as Cisco systems, skype can be integrated. Mobile, desktop and laptops can be used. “The CM wants to do a video conference with beneficiaries in a big way shortly,” he says.
Mr. Babu said the RTG had received the prestigious Hitachi people’s choice award recently for innovation and using Information Technology (IT) effectively in governance.