The Times of India 16.11.2009
MC website being upgraded
LUDHIANA: Owing to pressure exerted by state information commission (SIC) and Right to Information (RTI) activists, municipal corporation (MC) is on its toes to upgrade its website. Following the upgradation, exhaustive information pertaining to the civic body would be a click away.
The decision relating to the website’s upgradation had been on the cards ever since state information commissioner Lt Gen (retd) PK Grover had asked MC officers to comply with norms regarding proper dissemination of information under section 4(1)-B of RTI Act and include information in preview of the act on the website. For that, MC had even constituted a sub-committee comprising joint commissioner Mahinder Pal Gupta, senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal and superintendent engineer (SE) designs DPS Wadhwa to look into the matter.
At a meeting of the committee held on Friday, it was decided that the website would be upgraded, with the main focus being on proper dissemination of information under clause 4(1)-B of the Act. At the meeting that continued for more than four hours, it was stated that the website would be divided into three parts- services, download and general information sections, which would be further divided into more than 20 sub-sections at the initial stage.
By accessing these sections, residents would be able to get information regarding services being given by the civic body, its income and expenditure, details of officers of each area and MC voter list. It was maintained that vital information regarding the budget and details of developmental work on in the city would be provided on the website.
Highly-placed sources revealed that it would take more than three months for the civic body authorities to complete the work on the website.
When contacted, Bansal said upgradation of the website would usher in a new era of information for city residents, adding that they were trying their best to complete the work soon as it would ensure transparency and accountability in working of the civic body.
The decision relating to the website’s upgradation had been on the cards ever since state information commissioner Lt Gen (retd) PK Grover had asked MC officers to comply with norms regarding proper dissemination of information under section 4(1)-B of RTI Act and include information in preview of the act on the website. For that, MC had even constituted a sub-committee comprising joint commissioner Mahinder Pal Gupta, senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal and superintendent engineer (SE) designs DPS Wadhwa to look into the matter.
At a meeting of the committee held on Friday, it was decided that the website would be upgraded, with the main focus being on proper dissemination of information under clause 4(1)-B of the Act. At the meeting that continued for more than four hours, it was stated that the website would be divided into three parts- services, download and general information sections, which would be further divided into more than 20 sub-sections at the initial stage.
By accessing these sections, residents would be able to get information regarding services being given by the civic body, its income and expenditure, details of officers of each area and MC voter list. It was maintained that vital information regarding the budget and details of developmental work on in the city would be provided on the website.
Highly-placed sources revealed that it would take more than three months for the civic body authorities to complete the work on the website.
When contacted, Bansal said upgradation of the website would usher in a new era of information for city residents, adding that they were trying their best to complete the work soon as it would ensure transparency and accountability in working of the civic body.
