BSNL to raise mobile capacity in TN

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Tamil Nadu circle, will be increasing its mobile line capacity by 2.8 lakh by June. The existing capacity of 3.3 lakh lines in the Tamil Nadu circle has already been fully used.

BSNL's Tamil Nadu circle is also putting up a new 'Intelligent Network' to handle one million additional lines for the fixed line services. The cost of the new network is estimated at Rs 25 crore.

BSNL officials said that the Tamil Nadu circle has spent Rs 425 crore as capital expenditure during the current fiscal and has planned a spread of Rs 500 crore for the next fiscal.

Command call center for state police

The Tamil Nadu government will launch a 'command call center' for the state police. The project, which is worth Rs 90 lakh, has been commissioned by HCL Infosystems Limited.

The new command centre will be expanded to five other districts in the state. HCL Infosystems Limited officials said that the command call centre is the first of its kind in India.

Karnataka
Bangalore Bio 2004 postponed

The Department of IT and Biotechnology, Karnataka, has announced that Bangalore Bio 2004, one of Asia's largest Biotechnology event, has been rescheduled for May 16-18, 2004.

Being held by the Karnataka State Vision Group on Biotechnology, this event was earlier scheduled to be held between April 15 and 17, 2004. It has now been postponed on account of the forthcoming general elections.

On the sidelines of a roadshow that was organised to attract potential investors for this event, D B Inamdar, the minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology, said, "Besides the elections, we also decided to postpone the event after taking into consideration the convenience of many national and international delegates who would be participating in the conference and the exhibition."

The minister said that the aim of the event was not only to attract investments in the state and create jobs, but also an opportunity to improve the quality of life.

"This year, we are planning special discounts for the student community and also a Bio-Quiz to kindle the interest of the students," he said. This year, the total space for the event is likely to go up to 4,500 sqmt with more than 125 participants.