Date:09/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/09/stories/2003060907920300.htm

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

E-governance project runs into roadblock

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM June 8. The City Corporation is lurching from one crisis to another in the bid to secure final clearance for its ambitious e-governance project, amid fears that the Government is trying to scuttle the project and clear the way for a proposal to outsource the computerisation of local bodies in the State.

The Local Administration Department is understood to have finalised the blueprint for the proposal which involves engaging a private agency for the computerisation and networking of all the local bodies. Moves are afoot to invite global tenders for supply of hardware.

Already three months behind schedule, the Corporation's project estimated at Rs.1.3 crores has been repeatedly impeded on various grounds. Last month, the Government ordered a performance audit of the computerisation programme following allegations of irregularities in the purchase of hardware.

Scheduled to be launched in March, the project aimed at streamlining administration and improving citizen service facilities ran into the first major hurdle after the District Planning Committee (DPC) called for a review. Alleging irregularities in the purchase of hardware, the UDF members in the DPC demanded an inquiry into the decision to award the contract to a private company ignoring a better offer from the public sector Keltron.

Following several rounds of discussions, the Local Administration department promised to clear the project. But what followed was a conditional approval insisting on a performance audit. The three-day audit is understood to have detected no irregularity in the deal.

The subsequent Government order which followed the audit has however recommended a re-tender for supply of hardware. Officials point out that this would be impossible since the tender had been finalised and the company had started supply of computers and peripherals. Officials fear that a move to re-tender the supply would invite legal action from the suppliers.

A senior Corporation functionary alleged that the Government was just trying to buy time for the outsourcing project to take off. "It is evident that the department is posing impediments to scuttle our project and replace it with the privatisation programme.''

The Government project envisages the computerisation of all local bodies in the State and a network linking them to the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. The department is learnt to be in favour of handing over the entire project to a single agency which will recover its investment by collecting fees for various citizen services. The project will be handed over to local bodies after five years. While the hardware supply is to be tendered, the project will use the software designed for panchayats by the Information Kerala Mission.

The Corporation project envisaged a network linking the Corporation headquarters with the zonal offices situated in the new wards annexed to the city from five suburban panchayats. Two major city hospitals which register the largest number of births were also scheduled to be included in the network in the first phase.

The Corporation headquarters at Palayam has already been equipped for the launch of the e-governance programme. A front office with a computerised counter has been set up on the ground floor near the main entrance to the office.

Designed on the lines of the Friends Janasevana Kendram, the project includes an interactive help desk and an electronic token dispensing system for queue management. The data entry of back records for the last five years had been completed up to January 2003 with the help of Kudumbasree units and Corporation employees were trained to familiarise them with the computerised system.