KOLKATA
OCTOBER 27, 2006

The Steel City got new IT association called the IT Dealers' Association (ITDA), in addition to the Jamshedpur IT Association (JITA), which was in existence for the last four years.

According to the six founder members of this new association, they were compelled to take this step of forming a new association because of the dissatisfactory functioning of JITA.

Ajay Tiwari from System N Software, Manoj Kumar Singh from Aditya Infotech, Tarak Nath Bose from Symantech, Sudhir Kumar from Infogate Exporters, Ajay Verma from Soft Point and Abhishek Yadav from Chinmastika Exporters are the six IT players who quit JITA to form ITDA.

“We quit JITA because of its improper management and lack of clarity. We were not satisfied with JITA's way of functioning,” said Bose.

“In fact, it cannot be termed as an association. It's more like a proprietary firm. And we cannot be a part of it as it's not a business,” he added.

Kumar alleged that JITA has been in existence for the last four years, but even today it is not been registered with the government as an association.

“Unlike any other associations, JITA never worked for the betterment of its members or the trade. The tendency of the main people associated with JITA was dominating and they never bothered to take any member feedback in any activity. We didn't agree with their modus operandi neither with their view or approach,” added Kumar.

According to the new members, the main objective of ITDA would be to create IT awareness among the masses and to provide IT products at affordable rates to the people of Jamshedpur. However, the new members have clarified that the new association will not challenge JITA or go against it. Summing up the whole episode, Bose said, “Our views did not match with theirs and therefore we formed a separate association. We feel that the motive of an association should not be based on profit but for the benefit of its members and their concern areas. With this objective only we have initiated the new body.”

When JITA president, Amitabh Vidyarthy of Origin Technologies association was asked to comment on the formation of new association, he said, “I have got nothing to say here. It's their personal view. What I can say is that there have been only a handful of people who really showed interest and has come forward to deliver for JITA. Running an association is not an easy job. There is bound to be differences among members but that has to be resolved first. And for that proper unity communication is required.”

Meanwhile, ITDA reported that two more members Ashish Ranjan Das and Rajesh Kumar from Mind Technology have joined the new association. The new association is yet to appoint its office bearers.

As of now, ITDA has applied for registration with the concerned authorities. “The process is on and we are expecting the completion of the entire registration process within the next one month,” informed Kumar.

To prove its mettle and to reach out its voice to the channel the ITDA is also organizing a product exhibition–cum-seminar called Computer Mela on November 18-19. Infogate, a leading computer peripherals brand in Jamshedpur, is supporting the event.

According to members of ITDA, there has been a lack of seminars, technology workshops and similar activities in Jamshedpur, which is not good for the future of the industry. The Association will, therefore, organize such events on regular basis to promote IT awareness.

“We expect to get 15-20 thousands people to attend the Computer Mela and are sure that it will be very helpful for the end-users as well as the dealers,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, Director, Aditya Infotech.

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