The Uttarakhand government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 76.23 crore as part of its efforts to expand the network of e-governance in the state.

The state would also have its own data centre by the end of this year and the initial proceedings in this regard have been completed with the help of software firm Wipro, said an official release.

Chairing a meeting of state project execution committee last evening, state Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain directed the officials to expedite the process of establishing state's data centre to complete it by December this year.

He said Rs 76.23 crore have been sanctioned for the purpose that would strengthen Information Technology, network expansion, national e-governance scheme, preparation of website and portal and other scientific research in the state.

The connectivity to this centre in all its 135 Points of Presence (POP) would be provided by BSNL, he said, adding that the established speed capacities of 4 MBPS at state level and 2 MBPS at district level would be enhanced to 8 and 4 MBPS respectively.

The connectivity would improve with increase in bandwidth, which, in turn, would help in faster public services, he said.

He said so far 400 government institutions had been connected with the State Wide Area Network (SWAN).