Urban News

The Hindu 20.09.2009

Rs. 190-crore funding for e-governance projects

Special Correspondent

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Fresh initiative: (From left) Director of T.A. Pai Management Institute Saji Gopinath; Principal Secretary for e-governance M.N. Vidyashankar; Prof. Subash Bhatnagar of IIM–A; and Principal Secretary Finance M.R. Srinivasa Murthy, at the inauguration of the TAPMI centre in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: Principal Secretary for e-governance M.N. Vidyashankar said here on Saturday that Karnataka would substantially enhance its e-governance initiatives by the end of this year. The department would spend close to Rs. 190 crore for the purpose during the remaining part of this fiscal by launching 12 additional projects.

Speaking to presspersons during a break at the launch of the T.A. Pai Managament Institute Centre for e-governance Research and Education, Mr. Vidyashankar said six BPOs, on the public-private-partnership model would come up in districts this year. He said one was functional near Bagepalli and another was coming up near Shimoga. The Government was providing part of the infrastructure and each BPO would seat 200 staff. “These BPOs will provide backup for services related to the Social Welfare Department, gram panchayats and so on,” he said.

Centres in city

Bangalore would also benefit from government spending with 53 new BangaloreOne centres, taking the total to 100, he said.

Most of the new centres would be located in newly added BBMP areas, and preference would be given to residents without easy access to utility payment centres. Centres similar to BangaloreOne would come up in eight other cities like Mysore and Belgaum before December end, with at least three in each city. Spreading e-governance infrastructure further, the Government would expand its wide area network connectivity to 176 taluks in 29 districts.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Vidyashankar referred to an earlier short-lived experiment to bring e-governance practices to teaching hospitals. “We tried to bring transparency in all aspects. Though this project did not last, we are reviving it,” he said. Subash Bhatnagar of Indian Institute of Managament –Ahmedabad said in his keynote talk that TAPMI’s MBA programme in e-governance had proved useful and this had spawned similar programmes in several other universities. “Transformation through e-governance holds out the same promise that the nascent information technology industry did 25 years ago. It may be possible to reach good governance to every citizen in the country and not just those with connections and money,” he said.

Benefits

Generating more employment and economic opportunities, increasing information and communication technology penetration to rural areas, enhancing global competitiveness of agriculture, and tackling corruption in governance would be some of the pluses of e-governance, Prof. Bhatnagar said.

The Hindu 20.09.2009

GHMC at the receiving end

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: An ‘awareness campaign’ on communicable diseases with participation from various residential welfare associations of the city left GHMC authorities fumbling for words.

It was a moment of embarrassment for officials when a member of the audience pointed out that the very hall where they were assembled, Indira Priyadarshini auditorium in Public Gardens, was teeming with mosquitoes.

A senior citizen from Uppal municipality walked on to the stage and told the audience how GHMC’s chief entomologist D. Narahari did not pay any heed to the complaints of water logging in their locality.

‘Mere lip-service’

He narrated how unable to bear the mosquito menace, colony residents were forced to take care of the problem themselves. “Meetings such as this are just lip service,” he observed.

The meeting was organised by GHMC in the wake of swine flu and dengue fever gripping the city. It sought to educate people on preventive measures to be taken and on the need for community participation through residential welfare organisations.

Several representatives of different areas under United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (U-FERWAS) took advantage of the meeting to highlight problems they faced everyday.

Suggestions

Different suggestions such as keeping check on unhygienic eateries, tackling pig menace, spreading awareness through bill board campaigning and public address system and need for better coordination among different departments were put forth by the audience, which additional commissioner (Health and Sanitation) Aleem Basha promised to look into.

Earlier, Mr. Narahari urged people to keep a check on breeding of Aedes mosquito responsible for dengue fever and chikungunya by clearing their homes and surroundings of stagnant water, tyres, empty coconut shells, plastic waste and regular spraying of cracks in houses, earthenware, open drums, overhead tanks, ant traps, toilet flushes etc., at least once in a week. Authorities also requested people to allow sanitation workers inside their houses to go about their duties.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, GHMC Dr. M. Jayaram advised people against going to public places or even work, if they notice any symptoms of swine flu in their family.

He also suggested regular hand washing as the virus can survive only for two hours outside.