A State Wide Area Network (SWAN) project, which will connect more than 5,000 offices across Rajasthan upto the block level, was inaugurated by the chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday.  The CM inaugurated the project while delivering the inaugural address at the 16th National Conference on e-Governance in Jaipur.

The project was inaugurated through video conferencing with the officials of the Ajmer and Jhunjhunu districts for reviewing the "prashasan gaon ke sang program." Around 22 departments will now be connected through SWAN and will be able to share information and connect through video conferencing at the block level. Earlier, this conferencing facility was confined to the district level.

Gehlot said that the video conferencing will soon be launched in Jhunjhunu, Ajmer and Kota districts, while it will be scaled to other districts of Rajasthan in three months.

Gehlot also launched the NEGP knowledge portal at the conference. The portal will contain knowledge repository for engaging discussions on e-governance with various stake holders.

C K Mathews, chief secretary of Rajasthan, said, "Rajasthan is one of the leading states in e-governance today; SWAN will connect 5000 offices of various districts of Rajasthan."

Lauding the e-governance initiatives in Rajasthan, he said, "We have pulled down the computer from the offices to the chaupal. After the IT revolution, Aadhaar is the silent revolution in Indian which will transform lives of people unimaginably."

Other achievements of the Rajasthan government, he added, were 4000 kiosks to provide various government services, digital certificates being legally valid, and development of skills by giving basic computer literacy to the youth.