Corporation move to ease travails of public

THIRUVANANATHAPURAM:  If things pan out well for the City Corporation, one of its budget proposals might see light soon. A facilitation centre where public can inquire about the status of their grievances and a touch screen (yes, we have been hearing about it for many years) facility which could be used by citizens to update themselves on the nature of their applications would come up in the Corporation office. The proposal, though listed in the first budget of the present Council, would be blended with the e-governance project approved by the Centre for the local body. ‘’We are calling tenders to take up the e-governance project. The computerisation of the facilitation centre would be done by the agency who would take up the e-governance project,’’ said Deputy Mayor G Happykumar.  The centre would come up in front of the Corporation office and would work as a grievance redressal cell for the public at a later stage. The idea was first mooted a couple of years back after a fiery session in the development seminar held that year. The concept was then worked out and money set aside too. However, it never got rolling.  The present Council, in its budget presented in February, had gifted it the name ‘facilitation centre’ and revived the concept as a centre where public could get to know the ABC of the services offered by the local body. According to the Deputy Mayor, without frequenting the main office and going after officials, citizens can approach the centre and get the required information by citing the file number. Details on birth, death, marriage certificates, pension schemes, property tax, building permit and other facilities would be available here. As of now, nearly Rs13.5 crore has been approved for the e-governance project. Though Kochi Corporation has handed over the project to a private company, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation plans to go for tender procedures and choose an agency. The IKM (Information Kerala Mission) has already laid out a software system for local bodies and the e-governance project would only be taking it forward, officials said.