Chasing PM Modi’s digital dream, Department of Personnel Training craving for Wi-Fi access

It is a boon and a bane to be housed close to an all-important department such as the Home ministry.

And who knows it better than the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which has been denied access to WiFi because its office is in the North Block complex, which also houses the Home ministry.

Security concerns raised by its building mate have blocked DoPT’s access to WiFi, a wireless network used for accessing the Internet, a department meeting was informed recently.

The issue figured at the meeting chaired by newly appointed DoPT Joint Secretary Srinivas Ramaswamy Katikithala.

The officer, who is a 1989 batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, had called the meeting to discuss modalities for the implementation of e-office or computerisation of office work.

During the meeting, it was conveyed to the officer, who is on his first central deputation, that the use of WiFi had been restricted on the premises for security reasons following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, according to the minutes of the meeting.

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The DoPT, which benefits from the high security measures in place in and around the complex because of the presence of the Home department, is housed in one half of North Block on Raisina Hills along with Home, while the other half is occupied by the Union Ministry of Finance.

Katikithala’s curiosity grew further when it was conveyed to him that WiFi facilities were available in the adjacent Finance ministry office.

It was submitted by an officer of National Informatics Centre (NIC) “that due to security reasons, WiFi is not being allowed by MHA in this office”, according to the minutes.

It was also brought up at the meeting that the Finance ministry was allowed to use WiFi in the same building.

The bureaucrat has now asked the authorities concerned in the Finance ministry and in the NIC to examine the issue and discuss the modalities for facilitating the use of WiFi for the DoPT.