Deccan Chronicle         20.03.2011

The great news is that e-governance has finally come to Kochi. After several failed attempts to implement the e-governance project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, (JNNURM), Kochi Corporation has found a new agency to do the job.

It’s learnt that Tata Consultancy Services — the leading IT service provider company — has bagged the technical bids for the Corporation’s e-governance program.

The project, initiated many years ago, aims at bringing major services online. These include: utility management, property tax, registration of births and deaths, water supply and other utilities, grievances and suggestions and building approvals.

Though a sum of Rs.11 crore was allotted for the program by JNNURM a while back, the civic body was unable to make effective use of this amount. Interestingly, another IT major, Wipro, had also submitted a detailed project report to the Corporation for the e-governance program.

It’s an important project and the city can justifiably preen that it is finally being set in motion. As Deputy Mayor Bhadra told Deccan Chronicle, “Kochi Corporation is the first Municipal Corporation in Kerala to be computerized. Kochi was one among 35 cities selected for this project in the state. It is a very prestigious program and we are proud to be a part of it!’’

The terms of the contract stipulate that TCS should implement the project within a year.

Mayor Tony Chammany points out, “In the budget, we gave top priority to the e-governance project. The program will be implemented in a single phase and completed within a year. This will bring public services to the citizens’ doorstep,’’ he added.

Along with the implementation of the e-governance project comes an expectation that the administration will be more transparent.

“Additionally, it will improve the delivery of public services and simplify the access process. At present, citizens need to visit us for everything. The e-governance project will make life easier for them”, said K J Sohan, chairperson of the Town Planning Committee.

He added that the file tracking facility was the highlight of this program. “This will enable people to monitor the status of the files being processed”, he explained. He remarked that the project would also facilitate online payments.