With the BJP government in Haryana facing a backlash from a section of stakeholders over some of its e-initiatives, the Opposition has turned it into an election issue and promised to roll them back on coming to power.
Congress leader and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has often described the government as “Portals Ke Sarkar”, has vowed to scrap its flagship programmes — Parivar Pehchan Patra and Meri Fasal Mera Byora — if the party returns to power.
Launched in July 2019 to achieve the government’s vision of “paperless” and “faceless” delivery of services, the Parivar Pehchan Patra has been marred by privacy concerns and large-scale discrepancies in user details, causing inconvenience to people.
A source in the Agriculture Department said Meri Fasal Mera Byora, which provides multiple services to farmers through a single portal, was a good initiative, but poor implementation and loopholes not just caused hassles to farmers but also led to instances of fraud and corruption.
The introduction of e-tendering for development works worth over ₹2 lakh in panchayats had sarpanches up in arms. They accused the government of trying to weaken the panchayati raj system by taking away rights and routing all works through officials.
Seeking autonomy
In November last year, the Haryana Sarpanch Association held a Panchayati Raj Adhikar Bachao rally in Tohana seeking greater autonomy and strengthening of panchayats. The Congress supported the demands and Mr. Hooda, the chief guest at the event, said the e-tendering system was “the mother of corruption” and would be abolished when the party forms the government.
Indian National Lok Dal spokesperson Rakesh Sihag told The Hindu that the party was the first to raise the issue of inconvenience and hassles caused by the introduction of e-initiatives as the portals did not function properly and often wrong information was uploaded, making people run from pillar to post to get it fixed. “Our Kurukshetra Lok Sabha candidate, Abhay Chautala, too has raised the issue in his election speeches, promising to roll them back or fix the shortcomings,” he said.
Undeterred by the criticism, former Chief Minister Manohar Lal, who is credited with most of these e-initiatives, has on more than one occasion thanked the Opposition leaders for referring to the government as “Portals Ki Sarkar”. He has expressed confidence that voters, who have benefited from the hassle-free delivery of services, will give a befitting reply to those threatening to roll them back.
