Kochi city’s contention and its selection as one of the first 20 cities to be developed as smart cities seems to have awakened the Corporation from its stupor over the implementation of the long delayed e-governance project.
Now with the smart city project featuring a pan-city solution component, it has become imperative for the Corporation to intensify the rollout of e-governance modules.
“The first modules covering marriage certificates, death and birth certificates, grievances and online booking of Town Hall will be launched by March. The modification of the Corporation website is also under way,” Mayor Soumini Jain told a press conference here on Friday. No additional charge will be levied for online services.
Kiosks have been set up in hospitals to facilitate online availability of birth and death certificates. While new certificates are readily available, old data relating to birth and death registrations is being entered. Ms. Jain said more services, including payment of property and building taxes, would be added to the e-governance bouquet in the coming months along with the implementation of the smart city project. Conceived under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission almost a decade back, the project has continued to drag on without considerable progress. The project also ran into rough weather when the local fund audit report in 2013 found the Corporation guilty of not effectively using funds earmarked for the project.
Originally planned as an Rs.8.78 crore-project, it was aimed at making major services of the civic body available on the click of a mouse and bringing in more transparency.
The previous councils had roped in Information Kerala Mission (IKM) and the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to overcome technical glitches. The entire e-governance project was expected to be completed as long back as 2011, but it never gathered momentum.
