Karnataka to expand eGov initiative

The Karnataka government plans to open 20 more BangaloreOne outlets in the city and also expand its reach to five other cities in the state.

The decision to expand the reach of BangaloreOne outlets was taken after the success of the e-governance initiative in 20 centres across Bangalore city, Karnataka E-governance Secretary Rajeev Chawla said.

BangaloreOne is the integrated citizens service project of the government of Karnataka, engaged in providing the delivery of a variety of services to the citizens for and on behalf of various government departments, utilities and other agencies through public-private partnership through a 24/7 one-stop shop concept.

At present there are 20 centres in Bangalore and very soon another 20 mini-centres will be opened at an investment of Rs 5 crore, he said.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating ING Vysya Life Insurance Company's premium payment facility at BangaloreOne centres here today, he said the government is gearing up to expand the citizens' service project to five other cities like Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore, Belgaum and Gulbarga in the next few months.

In Hubli-Dharwad the centres will be known as HDOne or Hubli-DharwadOne and similarly in other cities the name of a particular city will be added to the name, Chawla said.

"We are planning to open five centres in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad in the next two months. Tenders have been invited for setting up the kiosks and will be commissioned shortly," he said.

At present, 20 counters are generating a business of Rs 2 crore per day for six lakh transactions and within the next few months the government plans to increase the number of transactions to 12-15 lakh per day, he said.

The new counters are being opened at MS Building, Indiranagar, Jayanagar shopping complex, Wipro campus at Electronic City and National Games complex in Koramangala.

The department of e-governance is also planning to start a mobile utility services counters in Bangalore, he said adding that the design of the mobile counter is ready and the application is being tested presently.

The department is also in talks with Income Tax and Commercial Tax departments for collecting income tax and commercial tax on their behalf through BangaloreOne centres, Chawla said.