As many as 174 Akshaya centres will be set up in different parts of the district, said Ms Rani George, District Collector, and Mr Thomas Kunnappally, District Panchayat President. There will be 150 centres in 75 panchayats and 24 in four municipalities. Local bodies can choose the venue of the centres. Town planning division has identified six zones in each panchayat. The land required for the centres will be located from the respective zones. Under the scheme, a learner will get 15 hours of training in 10 days. Of the total expenses of Rs 140 a person, the learner has to pay only Rs 40 and the remaining amount will be shared by the village, block and district panchayats. To create awareness about the programme, seminars have been conducted in panchayat and municipal areas. Awareness camps have also been organised for panchayat presidents. The objective of the programme is to extend the benefits of information technology to the advantage of the common man. It aims to make at least one member in each family computer-literate. Each Akshaya centre is able to cover 3,000 families on an average. There will be two centres in village panchayats and six under municipalities.
