HEADLINES
JOBS
COM:PORT
POLICY POLICE
ARCHIVES

Computers can kill!

The death of an Andhra Pradesh officer is being blamed on computer
stress. Will Chandrababu Naidu's revolution spin out of control?

Even the initial enthusiasm among a few employees has died and most keyboards in some departments are on the verge of disuse.

T O D A Y

• Computers can kill! • DoT to float WLL tender • Hitech City troubles • Angling for Silverline

The staff's mood is so grim that a massive effort would now be required to revive the computerisation which was just picking up.

To adopt the latest technology quickly, Naidu had set up a 'Chief Minister's Information System' which includes an 'AP Secretariat Files Monitoring System' to closely observe the pace of automation in all departments.

A secretary for information technology was appointed and a computer-qualified IAS officer, J Chandrasekhar, was given the responsibility of overseeing the work. An additional secretary, Randeep Sudan, who looks after the entire information network in the Chief Minister's Office was also put on the job.

However, there seems to be a wide gap between top-level planning and ground-level implementation. "While much emphasis has been laid on educating senior officials, little effort was made to motivate the lower rung employees," an IAS officer lamented.

The lower strata of the government machinery was further disillusioned when three months ago, the finance department's Section Officer Mallikarjun Rao died. His death is being blamed on overwork and stress due to computerisation.

The government denies the connection but the employee's death has already dealt a severe blow to the automation process.

"Since then, we are hesitant to ask our subordinates to do computer work," an additional secretary in the general administration department revealed.

The situation is the same in other departments too. "If the government seriously wants us to computerise all the work, let it provide us full facilities," says a section officer in the Panchayat Raj department.

- Compiled from the Indian media

Tell us what you think of this story