PUNJAB TO SET UP SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTRE TO BOLSTER CYBERSECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE: AMAN ARORA

• The Board of Governors of PSeGS gives nod to establish SOC with Rs. 42.07-CR
• Governance Reforms Minister held VC meeting with DCs to discuss & review key governance reforms and strategies to further improve citizen service delivery
• Also directs to identify and pull up habitual delayers for ensuring smooth service delivery

Chandigarh, January 16:

In a bid to bolster the state's cyber security infrastructure by enhancing the defence mechanisms of the state's digital landscape, Punjab Government has decided to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC) to ensure the protection of critical IT infrastructure including various applications and websites of the state government.

This significant decision was taken in 19th meeting of the Board of Governors of Punjab State e-Governance Society (PSeGS) chaired by Mr. Aman Arora, Minister of Governance Reforms and Public Grievances Punjab, here at MGSIPA, on Thursday.

With the implementation of SOC, to be established at the cost of Rs. 42.07 crore, Punjab will become one of foremost states in Northern India with high level Cyber Security capabilities. In the digital age, cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and pervasive so the need to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC) for the State was increasing. It will enable monitoring, detecting and responding to cyber security incidents in real time for protection of our critical IT infrastructure, he informed.

After this meeting, the Governance Reforms Minister held a video conference meeting with all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to discuss and review the key governance reforms and strategies to further improve citizen service delivery. He said that Punjab has 538 Sewa Kendras and 438 Government to Citizens (G2C) services are being delivered seamlessly. The state has successfully brought down pendency in citizen service delivery from 27% to less than 0.17%. He also lauded the DCs of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Pathankot for maintaining low pendency level in citizen service delivery, while asking all the DCs to ensure regular monitoring and review of district-level pendency to identify and resolve bottlenecks.

Mr. Aman Arora directed the DCs to identify and pull up the habitual delayers, who are sending applications back without solid reasons and putting unnecessary objections, while emphasizing on the importance of providing clear objection remarks on pending applications to enhance transparency and accountability.

While taking stock of the ambitious and pioneer project of the online verification of applications by Sarpanches, Nambardars and Municipal Councilors (MCs), Mr. Aman Arora directed the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that all Sarpanchs/Nambardars and MC are onboarded on the eSewa Portal within this month to eliminate the need for citizens to make multiple visits for document verification. It was ordered that from 1st Feburary 2025, offline verification from Sarpanchs/Nambardars and MC shall be stopped and only online verifications shall be acceptables.

Additional Chief Secretary Governance Reforms Mr. Vikas Pratap assured the Cabinet Minister that the department is committed to provide hassle-free, efficient services to the public in a transparent manner to improve transparency and efficiency in citizen service delivery.

The meeting was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary Local Government Tejveer Singh, Director Governance Reforms Mr. Girish Dayalan, Special Secretary Revenue Mr. Harpreet Sudan, Additional Secretary School Education Parminder Pal Singh, Director Information Technology Mr. Mohinder Pal, Joint Secretary GAD Tejdeep Saini and other senior officials of the various state government departments.

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