NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The whopping Rs 85.50 crore tender recently floated by the Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd, to provide 45,000 computers to class XI and class XII students under the Cyberage Students Scheme 2017-18 has created restlessness among most of the local dealers in computers as they are anticipating majority of this supply to be cornered by a single agency as during past many years, since the inception of the particular scheme.
Stating that in such a situation, the entire business of majority of the local dealers in computers would crash for at least next five to seven years, members of this community demanded that the government should allow the students to buy the laptops from any dealer – who is registered with the department of commercial taxes – of their choice. “The advantage of such a system would be that it will be fair to all local dealers in computers and the students, on their side, would be able to get even better configuration and quality by opting for better performance laptops,” they added, pointing out, “Or else, it would lead to complete washout of our business, in turn, leading to unemployment of large number of employees working in our enterprises.”
The government intends to supply 15,000 computers to the students of class XII, who have already attended this class, during the academic year 2016-17. Furthermore, the government will supply 15,000 computers each to the students of class XI and class XII, respectively, who will be attending these classes, during the academic year 2017-18.
The tender will be awarded, during the second week of June, while the distribution of laptops will take place between June and August 2017, in the first phase. The second phase distribution will take place between September and November 2017, while the third phase distribution will be between December 2017 and February 2018.
In the technical specifications of laptops, the tender document desires the minimum processor requirement as either Intel Pentium Dual Core 3825U or AMD A6 7310 Quad Core. Incidentally, the Intel CPU that has been specified is an old model of over two-and-a-half years old.
“With a single agency flooding Goan households with these 45,000 laptops, which constitutes Goa’s approximately 7-year market size, going by the average sale of around 7,000 laptops per year, the local computer dealers will have no option but to shut their shops permanently,” one of the computer dealers predicted, adding that needless to say, a large chunk of these 45,000 laptops will find their way back into the market for resale, as has been witnessed during the past 7 years, when they were blatantly sold even on OLX, the online marketplace.
It is learnt that disgusted with the cornering of the Cyberage Students Scheme by a single agency, on one side and growing laptop purchases by way of online dealings, on the other, the local dealers of computers have decided to soon approach the government with their grievances.
Incidentally, alleging that a powerful cartel of five IT dealers in Goa is handling the Cyberage Students Scheme, Samir Kelekar, a Bangalore-based Goan IT professional, in the recent past had charged that the Cyberage Students Scheme-related tenders were manipulated and tailor-made to benefit a favourite few.
