The Karnataka government has come out with a ‘Corporate engagement model’ in an effort to reach Sakala services to people through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
Speaking at an interaction organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here on Friday, Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, appealed to the industries to involve themselves in spreading awareness about the scheme (an on-time delivery scheme for government services) across the State.
She said industries and business houses could become part of it by taking up awareness campaigns, becoming ‘Sakala Mitras’ (ambassadors of the scheme) or helping augment IT applications. She said that they could also create helpdesks in public places, set up rural cyber cafes and partner by suggesting solutions on simplification in governance and service delivery.
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There was a provision for public to make suggestions online on the Sakala portal, and many innovative suggestions had been made, she said.
Ms. Rajneesh said that a survey of the International Market Research Bureau in five districts of Karnataka found that 99 per cent of people were happy with the service. Level of awareness about the scheme was 70 per cent, she said. The next challenge was simplification of the scheme and reaching the 30 per cent who were still unaware of the scheme.
As many as 46 million applications had been received under Sakala so far for a total of 478 services (150 among them online) in 47 departments. Most applications were from Revenue, Transport, Commercial Tax, and Food and Civil Supplies departments, besides the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Ms. Rajneesh said.