To provide easy access to state government data and bring in transparency, the Jammu and Kashmir government has launched a project to connect all its offices through broadband cables and wireless links.

The project estimated at a cost of over Rs 60 crores will be completed by August 2012.

"Jammu and Kashmir will have SWAN for e-governance. We have set the process in motion. We will sign a Memorandum of Understand with BSNL soon," Commissioner, Department of Science and Technology, M K Dwevedi said.

Country's top most e-governance project - State Wide Area Network (SWAN) aims to establishment government data network providing vertical and horizontal connectivity to all government offices in Jammu and Kashmir through broadband cables and wireless links.

The MoU will be signed between S&T department and BSNL, thus officially appointing BSNL as the service provider for connectivity for feasible and non-feasible sites.

After much delay by National Informatics Centre (NIC) and BSNL in providing Detailed Project Report and a solution to connect non-feasible areas in the state, the SWAN project would be started this week.

A proposal regarding procurement of connectivity equipment for each site has been sent to the Government of India, the Commissioner said, adding after the proposals is approved contracts will be floated.

The SWAN will have 174 points of presence(POP), including two state level PoPs, 20 district level POPs and 152 block level POPs to connect 10 selected departments under e-governance from block-level to state level hubs.

"Among these POPs, there was 140 sites (POPs) feasible while nearly 30 to 35 are non-feasible," he said.

First feasible sites will be connected and later the non-feasible ones so as not to delay the entire project, he said.

Describing the project details, Dwevadi said that a data cable would run from Chandgarh to connect two state hubs to Srinagar and Jammu and then to district PoPs and then to block POPs for vertical and horizontal connectivity of 10 selected government offices for transmission of data, records, video footages and other materials connected fast mode of governance.