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E-Governance

Plea to reinstall punching machine at corporation office

Thursday, 27 August 2009 07:02 administrator
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The Hindu 27.08.2009

Plea to reinstall punching machine at corporation office

Special Correspondent

Human Rights Defence Forum petitions Ombudsman

KOCHI: The Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions has been petitioned to order the secretary of the Kochi Corporation to get the punching machine at the corporation office reinstalled to ensure that employees reported for work on time and did not leave before the closing hour.

The Human Rights Defence Forum, in a public interest petition, also urged Ombudsman M.R. Hariharan Nair to get the restrictions on the entry of members of the public into the Corporation office lifted.

The Corporation council had late last year restricted the entry between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. which has been widely criticised.

Human Rights Defence Forum general secretary D.B. Binu pointed out in the petition that the restriction caused enormous inconvenience to the public, corruption and late arrival of Corporation employees for work.

‘Machine missing’

He pointed out that a punching machine, meant to record the arrival for work and departure of Corporation, was installed at the office way back in 2001 when work shirking and late arrival for work was rampant.

The machine for some time ensured the arrival in time and checked leaving early of the office staff.

But the machine had disappeared mysteriously and the bunking by the staff became a routine affair.

When Mr. Binu sought the whereabouts of the punching machine through a Right-to-Information query, the corporation public information officer had casually replied that the machine was missing.

Because of the unbridled absenteeism of the staff, the corporation secretary had issued an order that a movement register should be kept in all sections of the office. But in response to an RTI query, office said that the programme implementation unit kept no such register, thus pointing to the level of indiscipline in the Corporation office.

Though the corporation office said that action was taken against 39 officials, including three superintendents, for absenteeism, they had only been warned, Mr. Binu pointed out in the petition.

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 August 2009 07:05
 

PCMC to track pothole repairs through software

Wednesday, 22 July 2009 07:33 administrator
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Times of India 22.07.2009
PCMC to track pothole repairs through software
PUNE: Citizens in Pimpri-Chinchwad will soon be able to ensure that potholes in the area are repaired promptly. The municipal corporation has taken the initiative to develop a software by which it will monitor complaints about potholes and take immediate action to repair them.

Speaking to TOI on Monday, municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma said that the software is being developed by the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) for the PCMC. It will soon be uploaded on the official website of PCMC so that citizens can access it, Sharma added.

Giving details of the software, Sharma said, "Initially a team of five or six civic employees will be deployed to locate the potholes on the various roads. The information they gather will be put on the website. It will also have updated information about the action taken in repairing the potholes."

Sharma added that later when the corporation gains the confidence that it can handle the pothole repair work quickly, the public will be included in tracking the potholes. "It should not happen that we get many complaints and they pile up. We hope that in a month or two we will be able to allow the citizens to participate and lodge complaints regarding the potholes that they have seen on roads in the municipal limits. We would like to develop our system wherein the potholes can be repaired within two days in normal weather conditions." he said.

An official at the engineering department said, "A demonstration of the software was held for civic officials recently. We are checking the shortcomings in the software and they will be rectified soon. Junior engineers in the civic engineering department will be trained to handle the software and use it."

Incidentally, several potholes have developed on the internal roads of Pimpri-Chinchwad due to last week's heavy rains.
 

Rs 100 cr plan to upgrade e-intelligence

Monday, 20 July 2009 06:14 administrator
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Times of India 20.07.2009

Rs 100 cr plan to upgrade e-intelligence

AHMEDABAD: The deafening serial blasts of the last year have shaken the police establishment from its deep slumber only now. After blaming every terror attack on intelligence failure, the latest police modernization budget focuses on electronic intelligence, but not human intelligence, which is more wanting in the state.

Since the post-Godhra riots, police officials have been complaining about the complete collapse of network of informers who tipped off cops about any suspicious goings-on.

This time, the modernization budget of Rs 100 crore focuses on sophisticated arms and software
for tracking cellphones and call interception gadgets to strengthen intelligence gathering and crime detection. "Intelligence gatherers are given 34 new vehicles at various strategic locations and their funding has also been improved," said a senior IPS officer.

Besides, there will be budgets for training police personnel in marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and setting up new bomb disposal squads in various districts.

Hasmukh Patel, deputy inspector general of police (planning and modernization), told TOI that a substantial increase has been seen in purchase of modern weaponry and communication devices. "More than 100 carbine, light machine guns and assault rifles have been bought since the blasts. It will be used to strengthen the field forces who rush on the spot. For the same quick action forces, 1,400 new improved bullet-proof jackets have been purchased," he said.

Looking at the way the bombs were defused in Surat soon after the Ahmedabad blasts, the Centre has decided to set up a proper bomb disposal squad (BDS) in every district. Other cities will be designed on Ahmedabad BDS, who are equipped with all necessary gadgets to dispose of six types of bombs.

"We have formed seven new teams in seven districts with all the equipment, body suits and vehicles to rush to sites. By the end of the year, every team will be fully equipped and ready to tackle any situation. Other forces will also be allocated bullet-resistance vehicles," said Patel.

A big chunk was allocated to anti-terrorist squad (ATS), city crime branches and special operations group (SOG) the agencies that look after organized crimes and terror threats. From the funds allocated to the city crime branch, its officials set up a call tracking system with support from various cellphone service providers. Ahmedabad cyber crime cell also got a share for modernization and computer forensics equipment.

"The gadgets are just a part of modernization. It cannot guarantee foolproof security even in developed countries. Thus, we are training police personnel in various tactics and how to combat terror. The state's own commando force Chetak has also been strengthened with its own vehicles and weapons," said a senior IPS officer.
 

Mayor launches Corporation’s website

Saturday, 18 July 2009 06:56 administrator
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The Hindu 18.07.2009

Mayor launches Corporation’s website

Staff Reporter

Kozhikode: Mayor M. Bhaskaran formally launched the official website of the Kozhikode Corporation http://www.kozhikodecorporation.org. at his chamber here on Friday.

The website of the corporation has been functioning for quite some time. However, now the site has been given a facelift with updated information.

Mr. Bhaskaran said the government in its order in March had directed the civic bodies to launch websites for improving municipal governance.

He said the website would update the citizens charter soon.

The site maintains updated information on financial accounts, directory of councillors, information on the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Programme (KSUDP), Information Centre, Right to Information and Plan funds.

The website provides information on procedures for obtaining permission to construct residential buildings under the one-day permit system, birth and death certificates, procedures for making corrections in birth and death certificates, ownership certificate for buildings and residential certificate.

Last Updated on Saturday, 18 July 2009 07:02
 

‘GIS must be integrated with national e-governance’

Monday, 08 June 2009 09:25 administrator
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Source : The Business Line Date 16.02.2009

‘GIS must be integrated with national e-governance’

Phalguna Jandhyala

Hyderabad, Feb. 11 The Union Government has been urged to look at integrating geographic information system (GIS) with the national e-governance programme.

“E-governance to me means embedding geospatial information, maps of different types showing resource usage, where the education and health facilities are located and so on. All these are GIS applications,” Ms Preetha Pulusani, Director, Rolta India, told Business Line on the sidelines of the Map World Forum here on Wednesday.

She added that the Government should look at making GIS applications more pervasive.

Ms Pulusani said that budgetary allocation for GIS must be increased like it has been done for the information technology sector.

“GIS has always been taken as a very special and niche area. GIS has hardly been looked at by the Government from a strategic and long-term perspective, rather it was looked at as project based rather than enterprise wise,” she said.

Welcoming the move to set up an independent regulator for the sector, Ms Pulusani said such a body must be inclusive and have representatives from the private sector and the academia and not just with Government focus.

“As the Map Policy frees up digital map information, we will be able to deploy more applications in this area. The industry should look at the developed countries where such applications have been deployed to replicate here,” she said.

Earlier, speaking at a session on Geospatial Technology – Development and Trends, Mr Mark Steele, Chief Operating Officer, Tele Atlas Asia Pacific, said, “Navigational devices are no longer a novelty. Soon navigation devices will be ubiquitous just like the mobile phones.”

He also said that the future of digital maps will have higher levels of accuracy but for this collection is the key.

“The new applications and digital maps of the future will have more personal information and this will be the next wave that we will ride,” Mr Steele added.

Last Updated on Monday, 08 June 2009 09:28
 


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