PANAJI (Goa): Contradicting his own cabinet colleagues, IT Minister Rohan Khaunte’s information that the Goa Yuva Samwad Yojana (GYSY) which was providing free internet and calling service to youths is being scrapped, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the scheme has not be scrapped but close down for review.

GYSY launched by then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar provided free calling of upto 100 minutes and internet data usage of upto 3 GB for youth in the age group of 16-30 years within a benefit upto three years- December 2019, was disconnected all of sudden from July 1. Total 32,0000 availed the benefit of the scheme.

“There was a problem with Vodafone connection for last two weeks and we were receiving a lot of complaints as the operator was not able to provide proper services,” Parrikar told media persons on Sunday.

“I have not stopped the scheme but suspended it for some time to fine-tune it and will be re-launched in next three to four months,” he added informing that the scheme is being reviewed and many options are being explored.

While Parrikar puts blame on the telecommunication agency for reviewing the scheme, the IT Minister is on record to state that the scheme is been discontinued as it was being ‘misused’ by the students’ community and it also failed to serve the purpose of promoting information technology platform in the rural areas.

As reported by TNV earlier, the Minister also claimed that the state was facing a loss of over Rs 20 crore annually.

“Government was receiving a lot of complaints from parents in last two months that the scheme is been misused by the students,” he said.

“Hence, government decided to discontinue the scheme and to come out with a new scheme with a priority to digital literacy in rural areas,” Khaunte said.

Minister informed that of the total 55,000 sim cards distributed in last six months, only 32,000 were activated while the balance 23,000 were not activated at all.

Team TNV