JAMMU: The government of Jammu and Kashmir has said that its total expenditure on e-governance and information technology projects has crossed Rs 600 crore, with Rs 582 crore incurred by the Jammu and Kashmir e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA) alone and Rs 17.48 crore by the Information Technology Department. The administration said that a compliance audit of JaKeGA has been conducted till the financial year 2021, and no financial irregularities have been reported. The audit for subsequent years is expected to be undertaken after the completion of the ongoing operation and maintenance phases of several key projects.
In response to a question raised by Hon’ble MLA Ranbir Singh Pathania, the government said JaKeGA does not sublet IT projects to private vendors and clarified that outsourcing is done only through transparent tendering processes by codal procedures. Sub-contracting by private vendors is not permitted. The agency functions under the administrative control of the Information Technology Department and acts as the nodal body for IT, ITeS, and e-Governance projects across the Union Territory.
JaKeGA has commissioned and is currently supporting numerous projects under the UT Government’s CAPEX budget. These include the digitisation of civil secretariat records for Rs 5.75 crore, Wi-Fi installation at the Civil Secretariat in Jammu costing Rs 9.49 crore, and the upgradation of the main data centre with an outlay of Rs 124.66 crore. The e-Office rollout, one of the largest single digital administration projects in the UT, has incurred an expenditure of Rs 67 crore. Other initiatives include the e-Sparrow platform at a cost of Rs 63.6 lakh and the establishment of a Disaster Recovery Centre outside the seismic zone of J&K, which has completed one year of operation. Meanwhile, the SWAN project, which supports state-wide area network connectivity, has cost Rs 72.22 crore under MeitY funding and remains under operation and maintenance.
Several projects are still under implementation or in the tendering phase. These include the setting up of wired LANs at the Civil Secretariats in Jammu and Srinagar, the establishment of a near data centre in Srinagar parallel to the Jammu facility, and gap infrastructure to support the broader e-governance rollout. The Mobile Dost application, which enables multilingual digital service delivery through mobile devices, has recorded over 44,000 downloads. Platforms such as Digi Sahayak, an AI-based chatbot for public services, and the Central Verification System have been developed as part of the digital stack, with Rs 7.2 lakh being spent on the latter. A further Rs 10.28 lakh has been spent on training and handholding for the e-Office rollout, and Rs 1.58 crore has gone into information, education and communication activities.
JaKeGA has also overseen the development and deployment of over 50 in-house IT solutions, including virtual conferencing platforms and grievance redressal systems. The Auto Appeal System has been implemented across 387 government services, generating more than 2.17 lakh appeals. The e-UNNAT platform, which provides access to 1,166 government services through Common Service Centres, Digi Dost, and Mobile Dost, has been recognised with a SKOCH Silver Award. Citizen-facing platforms such as the Domicile Certificate portal, the Back to Village portal, and portals for cooperative societies, banks, and farmers have all been made operational without additional project costs. These platforms have enabled the government to expand digital reach and improve transparency and efficiency in public service delivery.
The Information Technology Department, separately from JaKeGA, has undertaken six projects since 2022. These include the establishment of a Centre of Excellence and IT Cell with an expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore and an additional Rs 60 lakh allocated for the ongoing financial year. Other projects include the development of the MyGov application, a capacity-building programme for government employees, information and education awareness activities, new e-governance initiatives in the UT, and a third-party audit of IT projects. The cumulative expenditure on these projects stands at Rs 17.48 crore, with an additional Rs 5.69 crore allocated in the 2024–25 CAPEX budget.
The government said that JaKeGA has audited accounts up to the year 2021, which have been rendered to the Comptroller and Auditor General. It reiterated that audits for the remaining years will be undertaken in due course of time. With over 24,000 users onboarded onto the e-Office platform from more than 480 departments and offices, and with IT-driven platforms spanning service delivery, cyber security, AI applications, and capacity building, Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as one of the leading Union Territories in terms of digital governance transformation.
