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UID project may be shifted to Guruvayur

Wednesday, 28 July 2010 11:23 administrator
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The New Indian Express   28.07.2010

UID project may be shifted to Guruvayur

 
 
THIRIVANATHAPURAM: The project to distribute Unique Identification (UID) Numbers to students which had failed to make any progress beyond Thiruvananthapuram is looking for a reincarnation in Guruvayur.  

Realising that the capital city was a wrong choice to initiate the pilot project, the Local-Self Governance (LSG) Department is now toying with the idea of shifting the project to Guruvayur Municipality which has become a role model in the state for its e-governance initiatives.

It was a major embarrassment to the LSG and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which had monitored the project when the Thiruvananthapuram project had crashed mercilessly.

The project started off in January and was to be completed before May. For the general public, it was agony for weeks when parents flocked to Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to get hold of birth certificates which was made mandatory for UIDs.  And no services could be offered to the non-parent groups as the manpower was being over-utilised.

Around 40 computers and equal resource were pooled in for the project but the Corporation was not equipped to meet the giant turnout for availing of the birth certificates.

There was no online backup too.

Guruvayur Municipality, on the other hand, has completely gone online last month in providing marriage certificates and birth certificates to public there.  The e-governance project in the municipality is so spic-and-span that half-an-hour after the wedding, the couple can collect the certificate. That too at a place where weddings took place in the range of 100 to 200 per day.

“There should be a trying out of the project and Guruvayur appears the perfect choice now. We are planning to conduct the pilot phase there,’’ said an LSG Dept top official.

The only good that happened in the whole mess is that the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was forced to equip itself to meet the times and now they are getting ready to make distribution of certificates online.  

According to LSG Dept sources, a group of teachers and even a section of LSG Dept officials had plotted against the project being conducted in Thiruvananthapuram.  Even when students possessed birth certificates, many schools had sent their parents on a second tour to collect them which had toppled the assumptions of the Department.

SSA had expected a turnout of a maximum of 2.5 lakh students’ parents for birth certificates in the 15-day period but those figures crossed in the first three days itself.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 11:33
 

JNNURM works back on track again?

Tuesday, 27 July 2010 04:50 administrator
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The Hindu      27.07.2010

JNNURM works back on track again?

Staff Reporter

State clears Rs 52-crore dues to VMC

Government agrees to release Rs. 4.25 crores towards non-plan grants

Contractors said to be unwilling to go ahead with works because of dues

VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials, now, have a reason to smile. The State Government released Rs. 52 crores which has been pending with it for the last four months. This apart, the government has agreed to release Rs. 4.25 crores towards non-plan grants of first and second quarters this year.

The State government has not been releasing the non-plan grants to the Vijayawada for the past eight quarters (two years). The dues would be around Rs.40 to Rs. 50 crore. And, there is, apparently, no striking move to press the government to release the grants. Though the government has agreed to release non-plan grants for the current financial year, the Corporation is unlikely to receive the past dues, sources say.

The VMC officials now feel that some pending bills could be cleared so as to keep momentum of the works taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme. Most of the projects have come to a grinding halt as the contractors were unwilling to go ahead with the works in view of mounting dues, sources say.

The Corporation took up various development works under the JNNURM programme in recent past, and a staggering Rs. 170-crore dues are pending with Central and State governments towards their share in the JNNURM projects. Of this, the Corporation already took about Rs. 60 crores as advance from the APUFIDC, which is a nodal agency to release the funds under the JNNURM. As there is an inordinate delay in release of dues, the Corporation nearly faced “financial crisis.”

Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu submitted a memorandum, on July 5, to Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy listing the dues. As many as Rs. 89 crores are due with the Central government towards Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP), both sub-mission plans, under the JNNURM programme. Similarly, the State Government has to release Rs. 82 crores.

Municipal Commissioner G. Ravi Babu apprised the higher-ups in Hyderabad of the situation and urged them to release the dues immediately. He also submitted Action Taken Reports (ATRs) for works taken up under the UIG of JNNURM. Another Rs. 14 crore under UIG was also pending with the government, sources say.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 04:50
 

Cn Heard

Monday, 26 July 2010 11:08 administrator
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Indian  Express    26.07.2010

Cn Heard

Express News Service Tags : corporation Posted: Mon Jul 26 2010, 04:17 hrs

Chandigarh:  Now controversy on sapling-plantation
Controversies in the Municipal Corporation are raked up at the slightest provocation. This time, all it took was a sapling. UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas planted a sapling in a theme park to be developed by the Municipal Corporation, in collaboration with the Tourism Department, recently. This led to a ruckus with the councillors, who alleged they were not invited and even the Mayor was not informed about the event. Controversies over inaugurations are common in the civic body, with issues like non-inclusion of Mayor’s name on invitation card or the name on the plaque can evoke strong emotions.

Haryana — a vibrant acquisitor
The alleged illegal release of acquired land by the Haryana government has become a source of perpetual criticism and left-handed compliments. In a case involving construction of under passes on National Highways, Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, taking a dig at Haryana’s ignorance over total number of underpasses to be built on the stretch, said, “Find out. After all, Haryana is a vibrant acquisitor.”

Singh is King
Bhupinder Singh Hooda is in habit of answering the call on his cell phone himself. This means a lot of people, who know his number (which is closely guarded), don’t hesitate to call him even at odd hours. To his credit, the CM is not known to lose temper with them. However, one “fan” is in the habit of calling him way past midnight. Finally, one day the CM asked him about his late night dialling, to which the caller, sounding tipsy, replied, “One needs a lot of courage to talk to the King and this courage comes only after gulping down a couple of pegs.” 

The in-security
Reprimanding the states of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for giving unnecessary security guards and vehicles to netas and babus, Justice Surya Kant gave his own example. “I never take my security guard for evening walk, which I never miss. The day something is going to happen, neither the security guard nor anyone else will be able to save me,” he said.

Self-obsessed worker
A city-based “self-obsessed” homeopath Dr Jagidsh Jaggi claims to have got another “honour” this time. He is now the Traffic Marshal with Chandigarh Traffic Police.

While Dr Jaggi, who has hired a public-relations company to pass this information to the media, claims he is the first one to be given the title, his claims need correction. In fact,

there are around 50 traffic marshals in the city, including businessmen, advocates, retired government officials and defence personnel. There is a chief traffic marshal as well.

Last Updated on Monday, 26 July 2010 11:10
 
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