Two districts under NEGP

At least two districts in Orissa including Ganjam have been selected for implementation of the Central government's National e-Governance Plan (NEGP) on a pilot basis. The other district is Mayurbhanj.

After the implementation of this project, the people in these districts need not have to make a queue in front of the tehsil office to get the residential certificate or old age or below poverty line (BPL) cards. Any person could get these documents from the Common Service Center (CSC) to be set up in each panchayat in the districts under the NEGP.

The CSCs will be managed by computer trained persons at the panchayat level.

The project aims to provide service to the people at their door-step and reduce the delay in providing services.

The pilot project was kick started from June last in Ganjam district and is expected to be completed within 18 months. "We have asked the consultancy to complete the work in a year", said district collector, VK Pandian.

WIPRO has been appointed as the consultant, while the state designated agency, Orissa Computer Application Center (OCAC), is providing technical services. The Information and Technology department of the state government is the facilitator and overall supervisor for the project.

Initially, the project would cover at least six core sectors and then be extended to other sectors. The sectors to be covered in the first phase were the revenue cases, miscellaneous certificates, government dues and recovery, social benefit schemes, public distribution system (PDS) and right to information (RTI) and grievances, the collector said.

The district administration has formed the district e-governance society (DEGS) for implementing the project and a nodal officer has been appointed for the purpose.

Instead of going to the concerned office, anybody who wants to avail the services of these sectors, can go directly to the CSC and apply the same in the standard format. Minimal charge should be deposited to get the required service, said the nodal officer of the DEGS, Siba Narayan Mishra.

A workshop to give training to the officers providing different services in the above mentioned core sectors is scheduled to be held on October 24 next, Mishra said.

A meeting was held to review the progress of the project in Ganjam district by the commissioner-cum secretary of the IT department, Orissa government, on Tuesday.