One-stop centres in Chennai for all civic needs

Common service hubs to facilitate easy access to services of all government departments

The integrated facility will simplify issuance of applications by various government departments and payment of utility bills — Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Soon, city residents may be able to apply for a passport, a new telephone connection and pay electricity bills, all in the same place.

The Chennai Corporation is looking at setting up urban common service centres that will provide a one-stop solution to civic needs of residents.

The centres, to be set up across the city, will be run by private agencies identified by the Corporation and facilitate easy access to services of all government departments.

The Chennai Corporation commenced talks with Central government agencies and State government agencies this week to commission such centres under the public-private-partnership mode.

The centres will be commissioned this year.

“Over 20 agencies of the Central and State governments participated in a preliminary meeting held on Friday. We asked the agencies if they were interested in joining the common service centre. After they reply next week, we will make a decision on the kind of services and the charges to be incurred,” said a senior official of the Chennai Corporation.

The Corporation is supposed to be the nodal agency for the centre. Residents of the 200 wards in the city will be able to avail themselves of services in railways, telecom, passport, Corporation, Metrowater, electricity and transport, at the centres.

The integrated approach will simplify issuance of applications by various government departments and payment of utility bills.

A similar facility exists in some parts of the State with over 1,000 centres operating in the districts.

However, these centres only help in applying for birth, community, nativity, solvency and income certificates. Services of some key government departments and agencies are not covered in these districts. The urban service centres in Chennai, however, are likely to have several departments on board.

Most government agencies have gone online but the Centre’s role would be to facilitate interface between the agencies.

“Unless key departments are involved, these centres will not be a successful financial model. We have explained this to the officials. More transactions at the centres will mean less expenditure for the government agencies and users. Otherwise, the cost will be very high,” said an official of the Chennai Corporation.