Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday said Kerala would be the first fully digital State in the country utilising e-governance to deliver efficient and transparent services.
Unfolding the government's plan for the next year at a function here to celebrate his ministry's first anniversary, Mr. Chandy said every citizen would be given an e-mail ID based on the UID Adhar, while all government transactions and applications would be through e-mail. By December 31, all panchayats would have 4G connectivity with optical fibre broadband. All pensions and scholarships would be distributed through banks. After Palakkad, Kannur, Kottayam and Malappuram districts, the rest of the 10 districts would be brought under the e-district project to provide certificates online. This project would be completed by March 31 next.
All files in the Secretariat would move towards digital mode by March 31. People would not have to depend on the Right to Information Act once the ‘IDEAS' file tracking system becomes functional at the Secretariat. All contracts above Rs.25 lakh in government departments and public sector undertakings would come under the e-tendering system. In the Public Works Department, estimates, administrative sanction, technical sanction, tenders, bills and payments would be on electronic mode by March 2014, he said.
As part of the proposed Right to Service Act, the procedures related to corrections in the SSLC book would be liberalised. For corrections needed for visa, appointments, higher studies and court purposes, applications with all the relevant documents would be cleared in two days. Temporary possession certificates would be issued to houses up to 1,000 sq. feet for getting water and electricity connection, ration card and voter identity card.
Announcing reforms in the police, he said facilities would be available to file complaints over telephone without going to the police station. Complaints registered on telephone 100 will be followed up with a visit by the police officer concerned to the complainant's residence to accept the complaint and acknowledge its receipt. The time and date recorded on the number 100 would be reckoned as the time of complaint. The officer concerened would write down the complaint and read it out for the benefit of illiterate complainants.
The Chief Minister announced sops for prompt repayment of loans. State subsidy would be incorporated to extend interest-free short-term loans to farmers who repay advances promptly. He also announced the establishment of 35 more Karunya fair price medical shops this month itself. There were over 549 persons waiting for appointment under the dying-in-harness scheme. Another 101 persons were awaiting recruitment under the sports quota for the last three years. Over and above this, 1,188 persons would benefit from the special recruitment for handicapped persons, he said.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the most significant aspect of the last one year's rule was the unity with which his Cabinet functioned. There was hardly any difference of opinion among Ministers and all decisions were taken collectively after discussions. The government did not shy away from taking decisions despite having a slender majority in the Assembly.
The Chief Minister also touched upon dream projects such as the Vizhinjam container terminal, Kochi Metro, Bullet train, mono rail projects. He promised to push for them in the coming years.
