Announcing this at a national conference on `Electronics and information technology-Beyond 2000', organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said his government will give priority to IT and computer literacy in government-aided and private schools in the State. He informed that a knowledge corridor will be developed between Mumbai and Pune.

He said that computer laboratories will be set up at government-aided schools, zilla-parishad schools and municipal schools. The government will encourage private initiative in the 7,500 to 8,000 aided and unaided schools in the State.

Joshi said his government will layemphasis on IT education from a basic level right up to schools of excellence like the institutes run by the Carnegie Mellon University and the Novell Institute of Networking Technology.

He said that a Software Technology Park was being developed on 70 ha of land at Hinjawadi village near Balewadi in Pune. More than 70 per cent commercial space in the proposed Park was already booked by IT industrialists, he added. Joshi said 14 lakh sq ft out of the 20 lakh sq ft available in the Millennium Business Park at Navi Mumbai was also booked by investors in this area. The commercial space will be sold as soon as it is available in the Nagpur Software Technology Park, work for which is underway, the chief minister said. He added that an Electronic IT Park would be developed in Pimpri-Chinchwad area over 100 acres of land.

``The wired villages project of Warna in Satara district will be inaugurated at the hands of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on December 19. This will be the first experiment of using IT inrural Maharashtra,'' Joshi said.

The chief minister said his government has decided to declare 1999-2000 as the Information Technology year to develop massive IT infrastructure and industry. He told reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting at Mantralaya that the Cabinet has approved a proposal which envisaged effective implementation of the State's IT policy, enhanced application of IT in government machinery and develop IT network in rural areas.

State Industries Secretary Yashwant Bhave said the government has offered various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to the IT sector. Henceforth software units will be allowed in the residential zones also, he added.

Bhave said the State Government will complete computerisation in the government functioning by 2000 as transactions will be conducted in a paperless form via the E-mail. He informed that Mantralaya will be connected with all districts and tehsils in the next three years.

He said the government had no plans to float a separate venture capitalfund to help new software units. However, he informed that the State Government or its agency, State Industrial & Investment Corporation of Maharashtra can associate with the Union Government, IDBI and ICICI in venture financing.