Fixing July 2015 as deadline, Punjab Government on Thursday decided to set up kiosks under Unified Service Delivery System to facilitate common masses by providing 200 citizen centric services.
The decision was taken by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal while reviewing the ongoing e-governance and e-districts projects.
Reiterating his resolve to eliminate corruption and harassment of general public, Sukhbir asserted that from July next, the people of Punjab would get their required services “not in line but online”.
He asked the Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal to expedite the process of setting up Unified Service Delivery Centers in the State, which would become operational before the given timeline.
He said that existing Fard, Saanjh and Suvidha Kendras would be clubbed with these centers for delivery of Governance to Government (G to G) and Government to Citizen (G to C) services.
In July next, Punjab would become the first State in the country by implementing 200 citizen services under Right to Service Act and 100 per cent e-governance and e-district projects, he added.
Examining the layout of these centers and infrastructure, Sukhbir directed the Principal Secretary Governance Reforms C Roul to divide cities into different clusters for setting up of these centers. “There should be three-four State-of-the-art citizen facilitation centers in each city at approachable distances with easy access to the public,” he added.
Sukhbir emphasized that there should be back-end computerization and digitalization of all services in all departments before the given target.
At present, 149 services have been provided under Right to Service Act and more 52 will be added as per the directions. There were 16 states including Punjab where e-district project has been initiated and Punjab was the leading state in all aspects.
Sukhbir asked the Chief Secretary to strictly ensure external auditor besides taking monthly report of functioning of these centers. “All the manpower should be outsourced by the service provider, where a well qualified, experienced and IT expert staff would facilitate general public,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister added that there should be a dedicated complaint box besides a central helpline, which would work as watchdog. He also asked Chief Secretary that these centers would be open for general public for all seven days with a single off in a month.