AAP government launches doorstep delivery of public services in Delhi

Residents can now apply for 40 documents; no. of services will be raised to 100 in future, says Kejriwal

CM Arvind Kejriwal launches the scheme on Monday. sandeep saxena

After months of planning, the Delhi government on Monday launched its ambitious project to deliver public services at the doorstep of residents.

From driving licences to marriage certificates, Delhiites can now apply for 40 government documents to be delivered at their homes for a fee of ₹50 per service.

The applicant would have to call 1076 and fix an appointment with a mobile sahayak, who will go to their home and help with filling forms, payment of fees and collection of documents.

The mobile sahayak would then submit the documents at the government office concerned, which would post the certificate or licence once issued.

Starting from Monday morning, after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the project in the presence of the Cabinet and Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, till 6 p.m., a total of 21,000 calls were attempted to the centralised number — 1076, the government said.

Due to the large volume of calls, 2,728 were connected and 1,286 were answered by the operators, the government said.

The calls that were attempted but were unable to connect would be returned by the operators, it said.

‘Teething troubles’

Of the calls that were answered, 369 led to appointments for home visits by the mobile sahayaks, who collected documents from seven applicants as of 6 p.m.

Speaking about the project, Mr. Kejriwal said there could be teething troubles for the next few days.

From Tuesday, the number of operators would be increased to 80 from 40 and the number of phone lines to 120 from 50.

The project, which has been outsourced by the Administrative Reforms Department to VFS Global, had received the Cabinet’s in-principle approval in November 2017. Though Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal had raised certain concerns, including about potential security threat from sahayaks, the Cabinet approved the contract with VFS on July 3.

Mr. Kejriwal said the project faced many obstructions, including that from the Centre and the L-G. He added that the AAP government was fighting against deep-rooted vested interests.

Terming it a historic day, Mr. Kejriwal said the move would end the long waiting time at government offices, the scope for touts to operate and increase productivity.

“There are SDM offices where people start lining up at 4 a.m. and their turn comes at 10 a.m. They get tired of waiting and end up going to touts. Now, there is no need for this,” he said.

The number of services to be home-delivered would be increased to 100 within three months, he added.