In what will be a milestone in Tamil Nadu’s e-Governance programme, the Secretariat will go green through paperless administration by the end of 2021.
Besides, a time-bound plan will start early next year to get all Departments and 38 Collectorates to switch to the e-Office platform.
Adhering to the safety protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials of the Department of Information Technology have identified two nodal officers in each Department. They are being trained at the Anna Institute of Management by experts of the National Informatics Centre, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency.
A team of police officers, who implemented a similar project at the police headquarters, are also among the resource persons training the nodal officers. Batches of 25 nodal officers are being trained during the weekends. They will, in turn, explain the salient features of e-Office to their colleagues and train them in paperless administration.
Key role
The nodal officers will play a key role in the smooth transition to the e-Office platform, sources at the Secretariat told The Hindu on Wednesday.
e-Office is an application for conducting office procedures electronically. It will facilitate the Electronic File Management System for speedy disposal of files. The workflow management helps in creation, movement, monitoring and approval of files electronically, resulting in better utilisation of manpower, avoiding delays, leading to better governance. Though the application is owned by the National Informatics Centre, the State government will host the server. The sources said that more than 1,500 computers were being procured for the project, along with scanners and printers. After e-Office is made functional by December-end, the team will shift focus to other Departments functioning from Ezhilagam, Kuralagam and other buildings, besides the Collectorates.
Huge volumes of physical files stored in the Secretariat’s strong rooms are being digitized. Every employee will be given an official email id ending @ tn.gov.in to access the system. No access will be granted for login with Gmail and Yahoo. Transfer of files from private email services will also be prohibited to secure the system, the sources said.
Officials were repeatedly urged through circulars not to use private email services for official communication.