To take all citizen services to the people’s doorsteps through a unique Punjab Online programme which will cover each and every village panchayat in the State, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday initiated talks with software giant, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS).
The TCS vice-president Tanmoy Chakrabarty and his team, during Sukhbir’s visit to the campus, gave him presentation on the proposed Punjab Online programme which will capture entire services required by the citizens from life to death and providing the same at the village level in rural areas and at the ward level in towns and cities.
Giving details of the programme, Chakrabarty said that the programme would result in creation of jobs at village and ward levels with TCS proposing to create franchisees which will manage the small kiosks. More than 25,000 people are likely to get employment besides removing congestion in Government offices once people start going from “lines” to “online” to avail Government services at a nominal cost, he added.
Chakrabarty added that the services offered will include birth and death certificates, school admission forms, examination results, vehicle registration, passport verification, marriage certificate, utility services and provision of land records. Appreciating the efforts made by TCS in providing citizen services through various schemes in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister asked TCS to study a model whereby the company could integrate the working of Government’s Sanjh and Suvidha centres.
The TCS vice president affirmed that it could do so in case it was chosen for the project. He also committed that TCS would submit a detailed proposal in this regard within two weeks. Sukhbir, on his part, announced the establishment of a task force headed by Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh and other senior officers including financial commissioner (development) Suresh Kumar to evaluate the proposal and take a quick decision on the same.
The TCS also proposed that it could effectively manage a healthcare scheme on turnkey basis and offer services, including keeping an inventory of medical records, online update of bed capacity, online claims or payments and a variety of control systems which would bring in efficiency in healthcare management. Sukhbir briefed the TCS management that the Government had already finalized a scheme to provide medical treatment facilities worth Rs 30,000 annually to poorer sections and Rs 1.5 lakh medical insurance cover to 31 lakh socially backward sections of society. “The Government is open to partner with TCS to make the healthcare system more efficient and responsive to the needs of the people,” he added.