Launched with great fanfare on September 1, the project for all practical purposes remains a non-starter in the districts of Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar (NOIDA), Sitapur, Rae Bareli, Sultanpur and Gorakhpur. The project's implementation period is one year which ends on August 31, 2008. Based on this, the project would be extended to the entire state.
However, the delay in the execution of the project has become a cause of concern for the government, says an official. But defending the government, a senior official blamed consulting agencies for the delay. These agencies, according to him, have failed to submit their survey reports, which is a prerequisite for the implementation of the project.
These agencies are US based Price Water House Coopers for Ghaziabad and Noida, Wipro for Sitapur and Rae Bareli and Three-I-Infotech for Sultanpur and Gorakhpur districts.
The role of these agencies came under severe criticism at a high level meeting held by the state level project implementation committee headed by revenue board chairman, Vinod Mehrotra, here on Monday. The meeting was attended by principal secretary, information technology and secretary, Amod Kumar.
The project, which is part of the national e-governance plan, is meant to link villages with Internet and make them self-sustainable in catering to the needs of villagers. Initially, ten selected services have been included on the schedule of e-district project. They include services related to the police, FIR status, character verification, certificates of birth, death, castes, income, residence, handicap, electoral services, case listing, cause list generation, progress tracking in the court cases, final issuance of court orders, employment services, national rural employment guarantee programme and registration in employment exchange, besides RTI application for all departments, house tax, property tax, dues and recovery and grievances.
While the project aims to increase the efficiency in the working of the government, at the same time it would make things easy for district magistrates to monitor the working of officials under them and also keep track on the delivery mechanism of the system.
Quelle/Source: The Times of India, 16.10.2007
