554 identified; exercise aimed at cutting costs, tightening communication oversight
PANAJI
In a move aimed at cutting avoidable expenditure and streamlining digital governance, the Goa Government has launched a statewide exercise to identify and deactivate dormant official email accounts that are no longer in use. A preliminary review has identified 554 official government email accounts that have remained dormant for periods ranging from 90 days to more than 525 days.
The Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (DITE&C) has directed all government departments, autonomous bodies, corporations and other government entities to review official email accounts that have remained inactive for more than a year and submit their findings within 15 days.
The exercise comes in the wake of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) migrating government email services to a commercial subscription-based platform, under which each official email account now attracts an annual cost of approximately Rs 2,400.
Officials said the government is seeking to ensure that public funds are not spent on maintaining email accounts that are no longer operational or required.
"The department requests all heads of departments and authorised nodal officers to verify the status of the listed email accounts and submit the required information within 15 days," the circular stated.
The department has warned that email accounts found to be inactive and for which no response is received within the stipulated timeframe may be recommended for deactivation or deletion.
Sources said the review could also help identify accounts belonging to retired, transferred or former employees that may still be active in government records, thereby strengthening cybersecurity and administrative efficiency.
The department has urged all concerned authorities to treat the matter on priority and ensure timely compliance with the directive.
