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Kumbakonam Municipality to hold paperless council meet

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The Hindu         29.12.2014   

Kumbakonam Municipality to hold paperless council meet

Part of civic body’s plan to introduce e-governance, seamless service

Stepping into its 148th year, the Kumbakonam Municipality is all set to conduct a paperless council meet, the first of it kind in its history and among the local bodies in the region, here on Tuesday.

The Kumbakonam Municipality came into being in 1866 and during its chequered history has been responsible in developing the civic area and has effectively contributed to the pilgrims' cause, particularly during the Mahamaham festival, which falls once in 12 years.

The next Mahamaham is due in 2016, when the civic body would be celebrating its 150th anniversary.

In fact, the Kumbakonam Municipality bagged the State government's Best Municipality Award for the current year.

In line with the State government's desire to reduce the amount of paper work involved in governmental transactions and to introduce futuristic concepts such as e-governance and paperless office to provide seamless and expeditious service to the public, the municipality has decided to conduct its next regular monthly meet scheduled for Tuesday in a paperless manner.

Officials here claim that this could be the first such instance by a civic body in the region.

Following this, all circulars, agenda for the meetings, invitations and notices have been digitalised and work has been going on at a feverish pace to meet the Tuesday deadline.

All the 45 ward councillors have been given Tablet PCs with 3G connectivity, 8GB memory card, besides being trained in e-signature and other applications necessary for transacting regular business.

The agenda for Tuesday's meet along with the invitations have already been mailed to the respective councillors and officials a couple of days back and they have been duly digitally acknowledged to set the stage for the first paperless council meet.

Already the Kumbakonam Municipality is setting the benchmark in providing separate plastic waste bins to each and every household for effective solid waste management and segregation of waste at source.