Two days after TOI reported about the distorted Indian maps in wallpapers on laptops supplied to the income-tax department, the supplier (Lenovo) has started removing it. The systems department of the income-tax department has informed its officials about the time and day of the company’s visit. “In some laptops, they have already removed it. In the next few days, the entire exercise should be over,” an income tax official said.
China-headquartered Lenovo had supplied 2,500 laptops to the department in mid-February. In the wallpapers installed in these computers, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir was shown in Pakistan and Aksai Chin was mentioned as being in China. India has all along maintained that Aksai Chin is a part of Indian territory though China has disputed that and claims it falls in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK), which India refers to as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), is also a territory claimed by India but controlled by Pakistan.
The laptops were made in the company’s Puducherry unit and the software came from the US. Lenovo country manager (marketing) K Ramakrishnan said that the company would reach out to everyone who had the map on the laptops and get it deleted. “We understand it is a sensitive issue. It was not intended to depict geographical or political boundaries,’ ‘ he said.
