The district's own version of e-governance, said to be the first of its kind in the country, is in place. Deputy Commissioner V. Ponnuraj has announced that henceforth the status of a file in his or the Assistant Commissioner's office can be viewed from any computer with an Internet connection.
Mr. Ponnuraj told presspersons on Thursday that people need no longer visit the two offices to know the status of their applications. Instead, they can log on to http://dk.nic.in and see a link in Kannada that invites them to “Check the status of your file”.
Process
After clicking the link, the “computer number” of the file can be used to track the status. Those who do not have the computer number will have to click the name of the taluk from the drop-down menu, and the village from another drop-down menu. When they click “Search”, a page with all the files from that area will appear on the screen and the user can track his file.
Flexibility
Mr. Ponnuraj said that those who want to track their files could also be tracked by entering the user-names. They would have to type the letters based on its pronunciation, followed by a space. The name in English is replaced by Kannada letters as the system has been integrated to Google Indic transliteration facility. A click on “Search” leads to all files with that name.
Explaining the advantages, the Deputy Commissioner said that the new system would drastically reduce the time taken to process files.
Earlier system
In the earlier system, officials had to wait for up to a month-and-a-half to obtain a document from the personnel concerned, if it had not been obtained at the first instance.
Officials could delay the file movement by affixing some “query” on it, Mr. Ponnuraj said.
People had to return without knowing what the query was all about if the concerned clerk was not available or was unwilling to part with the information, the Deputy Commissioner added.
Advantage
In the new system, people can see if there is any query or other requirement that is withholding the movement of the file and address it.
The system, which has been introduced on a trial basis, has already caught the attention of some people. “People are coming with what they call ‘C numbers' (computer numbers) and getting the work done,” Mr. Ponnuraj said.
In addition, people can view different notes affixed by officials on the file. The system will also let higher officials know who is causing the delay, if any.
Next phase
Mr. Ponnuraj said that this was only the beginning.. In the next phase, the people could be sent SMS alerts about the status of files.
Land conversion
He said that the district administration was about to launch another system in which individuals could apply and get land conversion done online.
Known to take more than four months in the present system, the online land conversion certificate would henceforth take a month once the new system got through, he said.
Transparency
The officials were cooperative with “my dream project of e-governance”, which would introduce a new level of transparency in administration, he said.
People would be able to add documents to their files online making e-governance truly participative, Mr. Ponnuraj hoped.
