The Indian Express           30.10.2013

Soon, avail 25 services online 

In THE days to come, residents would be able to use administrative services at the click of a mouse, as the UT Administration is all set to roll out the 'e-district' project that would make 25 services online within the next four months.

A total of 64 services have been identified that would go online in the next two years. In the first phase, however, 25 services would be provided electronically.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the State Apex Committee held under the chairmanship of UT Adviser K K Sharma on Tuesday. The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which would be the implementing agency for the project, would be developing the requisite software for the purpose.

The main services covered under e-district include issuance of birth certificate, death certificate, senior citizen card, new electricity

connection, payment of electricity bill and payment of water bill. Applications under the Right to Information Act could also be submitted electronically once the system is in place. Bus passes can also be applied for online.

Through the e-district project, all the associated departments would be provided with the desired IT infrastructure to enable the

provision of electronic services to the citizens. The electronic application forms would be available on the Internet. The residents would be able to submit their applications electronically to the corresponding departments where the officials would process them. After the processing is complete, the applicant would receive an SMS from the department about the completion. The citizen would then download the certificate, digitally signed by the authority concerned.

The e-district programme is a Mission Mode Project under the National eGovernance Plan that aims at electronic delivery of citizen-centric services. An official said that the objective would be achieved through backend computerisation and optimal utilisation of the three information infrastructure pillars of State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Center (SDC) and network of Sampark Centres to deliver the services in electronic form to the citizen via Internet. It would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.

It was in June this year that the administration had finalised the specifics of the eDistrict and the State Portal or State Services Delivery Gateway projects. These projects have been conceptualised by the Department of Information Technology and were approved by the Government of India.

At its meeting, the State Apex Committee also reviewed the progress of other Mission Mode Projects being implemented in Chandigarh. These include Computerisation of Treasuries, Excise and Taxation Department, Police Department and Municipal Corporation.