Govt offices in Himachal to go paperless, CM Sukhu instructs IT dept

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu Monday directed the IT department officials to complete all the formalities for e-office implementation in the government offices in the state in a timely manner.

"The state government's vision is to create a digitally advanced state with secure, accessible, digital infrastructure for effective governance," he said.

The chief minister added that plans were underway to incorporate technology in various sectors and the IT department should take a lead in building a robust digital infrastructure across the state.

All the branches of the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat, Directorates, Deputy Commissioner (DC) offices, Superintendent of Police (SP) offices and field offices are expected to go paperless from July 1, according to an official statement.

The state has 109 branches of the secretariat, 70 directorates, 12 deputy commissioner offices and 14 SP offices, all of which will become paperless under the e-office system, it said. The decision to introduce e-office in all these departments and offices has been taken to bring transparency and efficiency to their working.

Once the e-office is implemented, the complaints and grievances redressal system would be accessible online and all documents would be created and managed electronically.

The system will also facilitate digital record management and online communication, leading to faster and more efficient decision-making, the statement said.

At present, the e-office system is working efficiently in 24 directorates, four DC offices, one SP office and three field offices while 32 offices in the state are using the system partially, it said.

The IT Department has adopted a two-pronged strategy to introduce the e-office system with personnel training on one hand and providing adequate manpower for hand-holding the staff on the other.

While training for the secretariat staff was over in March, the sessions for directorate-level staff began from April 10.

About nine years ago, the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly became India's first high-tech paperless Assembly by implementing the e-Vidhan system that automated the working process of the House, including various House Committees and Secretariat, and managing constituencies by respective members.