The last couple of months has seen the residents of Andaman & Nicobar Islands enjoying an easier life while trying to avail government services. This is thanks to the newly-opened Common Service Centres (CSC) in various locations of Port Blair, the capital of this cluster of islands located in the far away Bay of Bengal.
Established under the initiative of the Union Government's National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) being implemented through the Department of Information Technology, the CSCs are providing 40 various services like electricity bill payment; issuance of various certificates like birth and death; registration of various services like fishing boats; permit for fertilizers – to residents all from one location.
“Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a cluster of 572 islands inhabited by almost four-lakh people…it not easy to move from one location to another. The CSCs have come as a boon for people here as almost all services are available to them through a one-stop-shop ensuring efficiency, transparency and reliability. Life of people has already started to change and soon we will see all government services being offered through CSCs,” said the A&N Islands Commissioner and Secretary Bhupinder S. Bhalla, who is in-charge of the project.
The Island administration has set up a society -- SOVTECH -- for implementing the e-governance project under public private partnership (PPP) mode. A proper mechanism is being followed before a license is given to run a CSC, thus providing employment opportunity to locals. While 10 CSCs have already been opened in Port Blair municipal area, a total of 56 CSCs would be opened by mid-2012 covering three districts -- South Andaman (19 CSCs), North & Middle Andaman (18) and Nicobar (9).
However, the setting of CSCs has also courted some controversy in the islands as favouritism is being alleged in granting licenses, while the issue of poor broadband connectivity has forced the administration to opt for the offline mode which does not give information on real-time basis.
“Utmost care is being given in ensuring full transparency while granting licenses…people complain as they fail to meet standards for opening CSCs. Broadband connectivity is due to the location of the islands far away from the mainland…efforts are on to improve to ensure we get good bandwidth,” said A&N Islands Administration Special Secretary (IT) Utpal Sharma.
Giving details about the project on a pan-India basis, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said, “The NeGP comprises mission mode projects (MMPs) and core e-infrastructure. Significant progress has been made…over 97,000 CSCs have been established across the country as web-enabled service access points for making public services available to citizens on anytime, anywhere basis.”
Pointing out that the CSCs are making life easier for those living in villages and remote areas, Mr. Pilot said the government plans to extend basic banking services like cash withdrawal, cash deposit, balance inquiry and transfer of money from one account to another to every panchayat through the CSCs and money transfer facility to every village by December 2013. “This initiative is key to achieving the goal of financial inclusion and ensuring availability of government services at every doorstep,” Mr. Pilot added.
