Kerala - Kochi

Decks being cleared for e-district project

KOCHI: The State government is set to identify this month an agency to develop the software for implementing the e-district project.

The e-district project aims at easy access and speedy delivery of government to citizen (G2C) services at the district level through the “automation of workflow, back-end digitisation, integration and process redesign.”

Talking to The Hindu, Ajay Kumar, IT Secretary, said that depending on the department involved, one or more agencies may have to be selected.

He said the software would be ready by the middle of this year. It would then be put on trial for a couple of months. The e-district project will be fully implemented in Kannur and Palakkad districts, selected for the pilot run of the project by this year end, Mr. Kumar said.

Later, it would be panned out to other districts. Since a uniform system has to be followed, expanding the project would not be a problem, he said. Meanwhile, Wipro, the project consultant, is in the process of drawing up a report on the project. Consultations with different departments at the district and State levels are in the final stages, Mr. Kumar said. Once the report is ready, it would be submitted to the Union government for approval.

The greatest benefit of the system is that it would spare the common man the tiring and repeated visits to government offices for as simple a purpose as receiving a certificate, said Mr. Kumar said. People would not have to hop from one office to another for services, as they would be delivered through Akshaya centres, FRIENDS counters and e-district web portal.

The project assumes significance considering the fact that 90 per cent of the government services are delivered at the local or district level. Besides, it is expected to enhance the efficiency of the district administration officials.

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