The Times of India 17.11.2009
SMC to install 10 information kiosks by month end
SURAT: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has come up with yet another public utility service that should make life easier for the people. Municipal commissioner S Aparna's brainchild, about 10 kiosks of touch screen information system will be installed at six different zones in the city, including the newly- built Science Centre and Sarthana Zoo, by November-end.
The machine, which is an encyclopaedia of SMC, will be made available to residents of the city free of charge and it will contain key information on services and facilities provided by the corporation.
To be installed at strategic locations, the touch screen kiosks can be used by residents to source information on charges, healthcare services, gardens, vaccination centres, water and drainage, marriage, birth and death registration, professional tax, shop and establishment tax, individual consumer information, details about ward offices, activities of councillors in their respective municipal wards etc.
"The aim behind installing touch screen informative kiosks is to make life easier for Surtis. Usually, residents complain that they do not get adequate and clear information from the staff or that their replies are not satisfactory. Anyone can walk in at anytime and get information on any SMC related topic. The answer will be accurate and information available on peoples' finger tips," said assistant commissioner of SMC's information system department (ISD) CY Bhatt.
According to Bhatt, a touch screen informative kiosk was installed at SMC headquarters on trial basis a few months ago. The decision to extend touch screen services in other zones was taken following the success of first kiosk.
While SMC has sourced the kiosk machines from HCL, the ISD department has put in a lot of effort to install necessary information about municipal services and facilities.
"We have even fed the key data of all our 15,000 employees. Now, even SMC employees can access information from the kiosks such as their salary statement, leave, holidays etc," Bhatt added.
