The Punjab government has reduced facilitation charges for services notified under the Right to Service (RTS) Act, with a view to give a fillip to the availability of online citizen services.
A spokesperson of the department of governance reforms on Thursday said the reduced charges from five to 25 per cent would be for online users. Services such as application for caste certificate, issuance of birth and death certificate, rural area certificate and residence certificate could be availed at Rs 40, against Rs 50 at the counter.
He said services for which online user would avail benefit included issuance of marriage ability certificate for Rs 765, against Rs 830 at counter, solemnisation of marriage for Rs 910, against Rs 1,160, registration of marriage at Rs 950, instead of Rs 1,250 and issuance of arms license for Rs 1,325 against Rs 1,950 at counter.
He said permission to carry weapon, cancellation of arms licence, change of address, addition/deletion of retainer, change of bore, permission to deposit weapon/sale and transfer in death case have also been cut by Rs 100 for online services. Besides this, services related to agricultural department such as issuance and renewal of licence for sale of seeds/fertilisers and insecticides, issuance of duplicate licence and addition of items in licence would be provided with fee of Rs 160, against Rs 170 on the counter. The spokesman said Punjab was focusing on providing 249 services online, to wipe out corruption, offer a hassle-free environment and cut delays in service delivery mechanism.
He said Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds governance reforms portfolio, has directed all the departments to provide all citizen services online. Online delivery of services at the doorsteps would reduce the rush at suwidha centres and sanjh kendras besides encouraging people to go online to save their time and money. Besides, online delivery of services would also be fruitful for Punjabi diaspora as they would get required services not inline but online, he said.
The spokesman also informed that the government sponsored services like financial assistance to disabled persons and dependent children, old age pension, financial assistance to widows and destitute women, national family benefit scheme, senior citizen identity card, application for term loan to SC and BC, post metric scholarship to SC and BC, financial assistance under Shagun Scheme, issuance of disability certificate and job card under MNREGA, right to information and grievances redressal system could be attained free of cost at the counter and online.
