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.
