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E-Governance

BMC’s e-office plan to enhance civic efficiency

Saturday, 17 August 2013 11:23 administrator
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The Indian Express              17.08.2013

BMC’s e-office plan to enhance civic efficiency

Learning its lessons from the Mantralaya fire of 2012, the BMC has started electronically processing files at senior levels and begun an elaborate exercise of digitising old records, which the civic chief believes will not only improve efficiency but also change the way the civic body functions.

BMC has engaged global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to facilitate its e-office and digitisation plan. It has roped in Stockholding Corporation of India Ltd for digitising around 80 crore sheets of paper.

Though the Prime Minister's office and some offices in other states already function as e-offices, BMC's target of bringing on-board its entire administrative strength of 20,000 employees makes it a pioneer in extending the concept to the lowest levels.

"Our e-office programme is up and running and more than 500 senior civic officers have begun using it. Our goal is to get 20,000 employees to adopt the system by this Diwali. There are many spin-off benefits from the programme," municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said.

Around five crore sheets of paper have been scanned since May 1. An estimated two lakh files are scanned daily. BMC is procuring server capacity of over 50 terabytes.

"One of the biggest issues after the Mantralaya fire was the loss of files. The idea of going paperless with near and far backups then gathered momentum," said Kunte.

The corporation is yet to fix the sites for its backup or disaster recovery (DR) system. A parcel of land in another seismic zone has to be identified for the DR site. Places such as Nagpur have been considered. The civic body is also tendering for a document management system. This will help retrieve and manage the scanned files.

In addition to increasing the speed of file movement in the BMC, the e-office project through its data log feature is also expected to bring in greater transparency. "The log tells you at what time the file entered my inbox and what time it went out. It also details the actions performed on the file. The log is applicable to drafts, recording every change made. There is no escaping knowing how many days an official sat over any file. It also shows how files are handled — if one is picking and choosing for no apparent reason, then it puts database to question," Kunte said.

The system also allows senior officers to check on their juniors. "From my desktop, I can view the inboxes of a lot of people down the line. This is a big facility to create institutionalised accountability."

Kunte added that citizens would be able to track files online using the code allotted to each document. This will allow the BMC to update them on the file's movement.

 

NDMC on Facebook to redress complaints faster

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 10:43 administrator
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The Indian Express              13.08.2013

NDMC on Facebook to redress complaints faster

In an attempt to widen its reach to citizens, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has launched its own Facebook page.

A presence on Facebook, NDMC officials believe, will help the civic body in two ways. One, it will open up the organisation — considered a closed body that lacks transparency — to the public. Two, the move, they believe, will help senior officials within NDMC keep a tab on the various departments of the council.

An initiative of its newly appointed chairperson, Jalaj Srivastava, the Facebook page will be monitored by senior officials of the council. Citizens, through their posts, can draw the attention of NDMC officials to various civic problems.

The chairperson is even considering going public on Twitter. With almost every senior official owning a smartphone today, it is a good way to redress problems that people in the council's jurisdiction, Srivastava said.

"People may ask why Facebook? The council should have gone public on the social networking site long ago. People may or may not check their e-mails but they surely do check Facebook or Twitter. So, if they know we are available to address any issue, whether it is a complaint related to sanitation or something else, they can lodge their complaints without much effort," the chairperson said.

Though the response time is yet to be decided, Srivastava believed it would be quick.

O P Mishra, (director projects), NDMC, has been given charge of looking after the Facebook page and ensuring that the complaints are addressed by the department concerned.

"Already, we have received two complaints on Facebook and we are taking steps to address them," Mishra said.

The NDMC Facebook page carries several pictures like the Palika Bhawan building, gardens and India Gate.

 

Get details of property on the internet before purchasing it

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 05:34 administrator
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The Hindu              13.08.2013

Get details of property on the internet before purchasing it

R. Krishna Kumar

UPOR Card to have all details, including past ownership

Fraudulent sale of property mired in legal disputes by suppressing information will be curbed in future as the Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR) Card will be embedded with all information pertaining to it.

Details entered in the property card, as it is called, will be available online and potential buyers can get the legal status related to the property, including past and present ownership, case number in the event it is mired in legal dispute, bank mortgage details etc all of which will be linked to the property card in question and will show up on screen.

The property card will also indicate whether there are legal restrictions on sale of a particular property as in case of allotment made to beneficiaries under the Ashraya Scheme or similar social welfare programmes. Once the documentation process is digitised and a property is flagged as legally restricted from sale, the system will automatically decline such transactions and thus help bar fraudulent sales.

The UPOR was launched as a pilot project in Mysore nearly three years ago to create urban property database complete with spatial and building details, history of transactions etc. Krishnaprasad, Deputy Director for UPOR in Mysore, told The Hindu that the property card will be akin to RTC issued for land in rural areas and is the most authentic property document in urban areas.

“Under the UPOR, we have mapped 2.98 lakh properties of which documents have been collected from 1.18 lakh owners so far. After the initial verification the draft property card has been issued to 50,000 owners so far and 6,000 final property cards have been issued. After the expiry of the 30-month mandatory period given to file objections, all the 50,000 owners who have received draft property cards will be issued the final card”, said Mr. Krishnaprasad.

The authorities have secured nearly 40,000 documents from the MUDA,, scanned and uploaded them while documents from the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), including khata, complete with details of ownership, mutation in property, if any, daily transactions in the sub-registrars’ office are also being scanned.

 
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