The Hindu              15.05.2013

KMC to go hi-tech to keep a tab on civic works

JNTUK develops Works Monitoring System to improve transparency.

In a city with 50 municipal divisions and various development works progress, it is a tedious task for the civic authorities to keep a tab constantly on the status of the works and their progress. It is also difficult to hold someone responsible for the delay in completion of the task and for the poor quality of works in the bureaucratic setup. To address this issue, a team of technocrats from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada (JNTUK) has come out with a software titled ‘Works Monitoring System’ that enables the higher authorities to know the status of various works and to take action against the persons concerned just by making a few clicks on the keyboard.

The Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) is taking up various works such as laying of cement concrete roads and drains, construction of buildings for schools, health centres and anganwadis and taking up repairs to the existing assets on a regular basis. The works will be done through civil contractors and the engineering staff of the civic body has to monitor the works periodically and pass the bills.

Inordinate delay

However, it is found that there is an inordinate delay in completion of certain works, poor quality in many works and passing of bills in advance for some projects. As a good number of works are going on simultaneously in various parts of the city, it is proved to be a difficult to depend on manual inspections alone.

In a bid to find a solution to this problem, Municipal Commissioner V. Ravi Kumar has sought the help of J.V.R. Murthy, Director of the Centre of Excellence e-Resources Development and Deployment of the JNTUK. Dr. Murthy and his team have already developed ‘Jana Mytri’ software for the police, which is now being implemented at the State-level.

“The exclusive software for the Municipal Corporation provides an opportunity to record the entire process of works from the tender-level to the final billing stage. It is easy to hold the individuals responsible for any delay or poor quality of output, as the employee and position identifications are given separately,” explains Dr. Murthy.

The procedure ensures transparency in the transactions and quality in the works, he says. The new system is expected to be launched very soon, as the civic authorities are waiting for a formal nod from the higher-ups.

The Indian Express                26.04.2013

MC now gifts E-Suwidha to residents

After taking major initiatives of launching Android application 'LMC CRAMAT' and one-day map passing facility 'SARAL' in the past two months, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation on Thursday gifted 'E-Suwidha' to the residents.

An online portal, E-suwidha is now available on civic body's already existing website www.mcludhiana.com and residents can now apply on this portal for various services like getting TS-1 certificates, birth/death certificates, getting new water and sewerage connection or simply lodging a complaint or suggestion in any department.

However, the civic body is still waiting for permission for monetary transactions. Thus as of now, after getting token number and time and date from portal, the residents will have to visit the MC office to pay the required fee.

But certainly the hassle of standing in long queues for submitting application form is all over now. Unveiling 'E-suwidha' at Zone-D office of MC in Sarabha Nagar on Thursday, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria and zonal commissioner D Isha Kalia demonstrated how a TS-1 certificate will now be applied for within seconds as against the earlier lengthy procedure.

Kalia called the initiative the brainchild of MC commissioner R K Verma and said that the team had been working on it for the past few months.

A look at the E-suwidha portal shows that the whole system has been divided into three departments: building branch, O&M branch and house tax branch. While in the building branch, one can apply for getting sanction for new building plans, under O&M cell 'new water connection' and 'new sewerage connection' can be applied for. The house tax branch gives maximum services such as TS-1 certificate, change of ownership (death case-registered will), change of ownership (death case-unregistered will), change of ownership (natural succession) and change of ownership (court case).

After applying for any of these services, a token number will be generated by the portal through which the user can track the progress of his/her application on portal or at MC office. An email will also reach the user on the email ID provided to confirm the receipt.

Similarly, in the section of 'Online Complaint Panel', one can select particular zone, branch and service and register complaint. A complete tracking system of complaint/service registered by the user is also provided on portal. In addition to this, one can also search for building challans and building reports through separate sections on the portal.

Coming in another month is the facility of monetary transaction through portal, courier service and SMS tracking system; the MC has already applied for all three. "Permissions for payment gateways take time but we have already applied for it, and in a month, payment through credit card will start on E-suwidha," Kalia told Chandigarh Newsline.

"Tenders for another proposed service, which is courier service in which certificates will reach your home and fee will be collected by courier company, are ready and will be out soon. SMS tracking of application is also almost done as we are just waiting for permission from TRAI, New Delhi (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and then the user will get instant updates of their application via SMS," said Kalia. "Opening multiple gateways for convenience of residents is our only aim."