To ensure seamless services to the state residents in a transparent manner, Punjab Government on Friday approved the award of a contract to newly selected service operator to run 535 Sewa Kendras in the State.
Doing away with the earlier revenue-sharing model, this time, the contract has been shifted to a transaction-based model — a move expected to save around Rs 200 crores taxpayers’ money in the next five years.
Handing over the award letter to the representatives of M/s TerraCIS Technologies Limited after the meeting of Board of Governors (BoGs) of Punjab State e-Governance Society, the state’s Governance Reforms and Public Grievances Minister Aman Arora on Friday said that the new service operator has been selected in a transparent and time-bound manner to operate, maintain, and manage Sewa Kendras in the State for next five years.
As per the new contract, the entrusted operator will provide all the IT (desktop, computers, scanners etc) and non-IT infrastructure (ACs and water-coolers), which was, earlier, being provided by the Government at each Sewa Kendra.
“This new contract has also paved the way for door-step delivery services to the residents of Punjab as promised by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann," said Arora, adding that the State Government is all set to roll out its ambitious door-step delivery of services, being provided at Sewa Kendras in Punjab.
Currently, over 430 services are being provided to the citizens via Sewa Kendras and the doorstep delivery of all pivotal services including marriage certificates, birth and death certificates, caste, income and area certificates, etc will be started soon.
“With new transaction rates quoted by the selected service operator, the State Government is likely to save around Rs 200 crore (based on number of transactions) in the next five years,” said Arora.