Haryana Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, on Friday claimed that during the 15-month tenure of present Government, the initiatives taken by Chief Minister, Manohar lal Khattar, to
make more use of Information Technology for good governance have yielded positive results.
The minister was addressing the officers after launching the Online Citizen Services – ‘BISWAS’ of Public Health Engineering Department, which would provide the facility of online application for new water and sewer connections and online payment of water and sewer bills on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day’, here.
Capt Abhimanyu said that the initiatives during the past one year have built the confidence of the people in the government. He said that it is important to reduce inter-departmental intervals for good governance, for which Administrative Secretaries have the maximum responsibility.
Expressing appreciation for the efforts being made by the Chief Secretary, DS Dhesi and officers of National Informatics Centre, Haryana, HARTRON and Information Technology Department, Capt Abhimanyu said that as a result of these efforts, Haryana is moving towards transformation of the system.
Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue, Dalip Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology, Keshni Anand Arora, and Managing Director, Information Technology and HARTRON, Vijayendra Kumar, highlighted the activities of their respective departments on the occasion.
Vijayendra Kumar said that under the Digital literacy Programme, HARTRON has fixed a target to make over 52.50 lakh people digital literate in the next three years. So far, over 1.32 lakh people have registered under this programme, and 4,400 Anganwadi workers, 4,134 ASHA Workers and 476 Depot Holders have also registered for digital literacy.
He said that HARTRON had written to the Central Government and had requested to organise examination of Digital literacy through Haryana Knowledge Corporation, which has been approved. He said that Razipur and Mandana villages of Panchkula district have been adopted by HARTRON for digital literacy. Under Digital India programme, Panchkula, Jind and Sirsa districts of Haryana have been chosen for first, second and third prizes. These prizes would be distributed by Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad in a programme to be held in New Delhi on December 28.
Kumar said Haryana is a leading state in the country for the implementation of biometric attendance of employees. Over one lakh employees are marking their attendance through biometric system.
On the Billing Information System for Water and Sewer (BISWAS) scheme, Capt Abhimanyu said it was a significant scheme under which all prescribed fees, starting with application for drinking water and sewer connections, would be payable online. People residing in urban areas would benefit greatly from this scheme as they would not have to visit the Department again and again.
After launching the Online Citizen Service ‘BISWAS’ on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day’, the minister said that after the present BJP government was formed, administrative officers were, for the first time, provided such an environment in which they could utilise their capabilities and experience to successfully implement schemes in public interest.
Replying to a question pertaining to industrial plot allotment, Capt Abhimanyu, also the Industry Minister said that it is necessary in public interest that action is taken against violators in an unbiased and fair manner. He added that it is the duty of the government to ensure that all such matters which come before it are investigated.
Replying to another question regarding the experiment being conducted by the Delhi Government to curb pollution in Delhi, the Capt Abhimanyu said that there is a need to frame a comprehensive policy to check pollution in Delhi, and he had also given some suggestions in this regard during a meeting of Environment Ministers of various States.
The Industries Minister slammed the media reports pertaining to hike in fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) component of electricity bills and said that the Opposition was deliberately misleading the people of the State in this matter and spreading rumours for its own benefit in the absence of information.
He added that the fact was that the present State Government has not taken any such decision, and only the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) takes decisions pertaining to electricity tariffs. While the HERC had recently hiked electricity tariffs in accordance with the proposals of the previous Government, the present Government worked to control these hikes in public interest, he added.