Karnataka unveils citizen services

Karnataka on Thursday ushered in an era of guaranteed services to citizens in a time-bound manner. The pilot project under the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act, 2011, took off at five places, including Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, Aurad in Bidar district, Chitradurga, Dharwad and in Jayanagar Assembly segment here.

As many as 151 services including certificates of birthôdeath, caste, age, tax clearance and identity cards to senior citizens are covered

Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar termed the programme “ambitious” and said the government would take it up on a “mission-mode”. As many as 11 government departments, including local Authority, Transport, Revenue, Food and Civil Supplies, Rural and Panchayat Raj, Home, Education, Health and Family Welfare Services, Labour, Women and Child Welfare and Finance would be covered.

“The feedback received during the pilot programme period would help us when we roll-out the services state-wide from April two,” Suresh Kumar said.

The programme has been named “Sakala” which means right time. Officials said government servants would compensate for delay/default in rendering services at the rate of Rs 20 per day up to a maximum of Rs 500. They said unions of government servants have whole-heartedly welcomed the programme, and see it as an opportunity to refurbish the image of employees, who have been branded as “lethargic” by some sections of the society.