Chennai: Tamil Nadu government's latest IT policy, committed to make the state the "most preferred global IT investment destination", will be announced by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on September 19.

The Chief Minister is scheduled to announce the policy during the inauguration of "Connect 2002", the second edition of the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) event organised by CII, Southern region and the state government.

Giving a hint on the broad outlines of the policy, the state IT secretary Vivek Harinarain told reporters on September 18 that besides making the state the number one IT investment destination in the country, the policy also puts thrust on E- Governance and taking IT to the rural masses with a view to bridging the digital divide.

He said E-Governance had already started taking roots in the state, adding video conferencing link between the Secretariat and various district headquarters would be established shortly while remittance of electricity bills by low tension consumers would go online by the end of this fiscal.

He said this was for the first time the state was coming out with an exclusive IT policy giving more thrust on IT applications and IT infrastructure whereas the IT policy introduced during 1997-98 was more or less a part of the state's industrial policy.

The two-day "Connect 2002" is being attended by more than 1000 delegates from India and abroad mainly from the US, UK Singapore and Mauritius.

PTI