Amaravati will emerge as Technopolis: Ram Nath Kovind

Amaravati: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday expressed hope that Amaravati would emerge as India’s technopolis with the kind of cutting-edge technology it was using.

Speaking after dedicating AP Fibergrid, AP Realtime governance, AP Drone and AP Surveillance cloud projects to the people of Andhra Pradesh, at a function at the state secretariat in Velagapudi, the President described the AP Fibergrid as a pioneering project. “The plug and play, digital safety systems and use technology for real time governance would benefit people.

Internet access has become the basic necessity like water, electricity and cooking gas. Farmers and small producers in rural areas can use the internet to connect with people in distant locations for various needs. Data connectivity can be used as a tool for human empowerment and social change,” he said.

The President said that cloud-based virtual classrooms will benefit students in rural areas, who do not have some physical advantages comparing to students in urban areas.

The internet services would help in improving healthcare using telemedicine and drones to get real-time information to the government and help for better performance of the administration including, urban development, raising agriculture productivity, safety and policing.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said technology with internet of things (IoT) was the fourth revolution and the AP was travelling in this direction. AP Fibernet project phase-1 has been completed in eight months at a minimum cost of Rs 333 crore.

The total cost of the project was Rs 4,500 crore and the Centre sanctioned Rs 860 crore for the project. He said one crore video conference facilities would be provided using fibernet in one year and Google X promised to provide internet services in remote areas, including agency regions using new technology.

Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj Nara Lokesh explained about AP Fibernet. President visited real-time governance centre at the Secretariat and advised the Chief Minister to give a presentation at national level on the facility for the benefit of all states.

Governor ESL Narasimhan, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary, Supreme Court Judge justice NV Ramana, High Court judge justice V Ramasubramanian, and others participated.