The e-district project launched by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM) is catching up in the district with the steadily increasing number of online applications.
Since the launch of the service here in March 25, a whopping 2,05,835 online applications have reached various village offices here, which is claimed to be the highest figure achieved by an e-district in Kerala within a short span.
The facility, now offered with the support of 154 Akshaya centres in the district, is operational in 109 village offices in Kozhikode district. Eight more villages will be added to the network within a couple months after giving them the required high-speed internet connectivity and computer facilities.
Along with the speedy clearance of applications, the project is also offering a sustainable income to Akshaya entrepreneurs. As per the official records, the entrepreneurs have generated over Rs.41.16 lakh by processing and forwarding online applications to village offices and the timely delivery of the cleared certificates.
Also, a majority of the entrepreneurs have succeeded in netting additional income, other than the processing fee of Rs.20, by scanning other supporting documents for village offices.
“Till very recently, a majority of the Akshaya centres were surviving with the small revenue they got through the occasional online application processing for various purposes and the Aadhaar enrolment drive. With the introduction of e-district, several applicants are directly depending on the Akshaya centres,” says M. Firoz, District Coordinator of Akshaya.
Minor hitches
“Minor complaints are there as the project is new to the district, but, we have initiated all the possible measures to improve the operations,” he adds.
With the launch of the e-district project, the dependence of people directly on the service of village offices have come down largely, according to officials in charge of the project.
The conventional paperwork has been replaced with a computerised record management system and digital signatures.
Now, the entire supervision of the project, which was lunched with a government aid of Rs.10 lakh, is entrusted with the District E-Governance Society (DEGS), which includes top officials, including the District Collector and heads of various government departments.
