Follow Us
Vishal Joshi
Kehar Singh, a resident of Udarsi village located 18 km from Kurukshetra district headquarters, was taken aback when he got the registration of the marriage of his son done without having to pay money to an agent. The registration process was hassle free as the service was available at the SARAL (Simple, All-inclusive, Real-time, Action-oriented, Long-lasting) Kendra at the mini-secretariat.
“On reaching the kendra, I was guided towards a helpdesk window where an executive checked all my documents. I was issued a token number and asked to wait in a hall. Unlike most of the government offices, the executives at the kendra are polite and help people to complete paperwork,” says Kehar Singh, a taxi driver.
Saral Kendras were introduced in key public offices in all districts in 2017 under an ambitious scheme to bring in transparency. These kendras provide various services, including driving licences, ration cards, electricity connections and income certificates. Antodaya Centres were also established where eligible persons enlist themselves to avail of the benefits of various welfare programmes.
Nikhil Agarwal, Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associate, Kurukshetra, says the digital initiative is aimed at curtailing the activities of touts in public offices and completing the work in a time-bound manner.
He says citizens can apply for 425 services and schemes of 37 departments at a single-window platform. “These centres are radically changing the nature of the government's interface with citizens. Residents can now apply for any government scheme or service and get its benefits in a stipulated time and also track the progress of their applications at every step,” says Agarwal.
A district official says the executives at these kendras have been trained in multi-tasking to process the files of identified services and schemes. “Various departments have been directed not to process files at their level and every case must be directed to these public facilitation centres. The data of identified services are monitored regularly to ensure that public dealing of designated services and schemes is done at the single-window centre,” says another official at the centre.
An operator has been mandated to deal with senior citizens and women applicants. “An applicant may also request for an appointment for his work. You will not see a queue at any window as files are processed with transparency,” says an operator.
Ram Karan Singh, another villager, says the new system has made touts ineffective who were otherwise visibly active in the mini-secretariat. “The token system doesn’t allow out-of-turn processing of files. We have been told that a message of clarification or objection, if any, will be sent to the applicant’s mobile phone. An ‘aam aadmi’ need not pay money to a middleman as the files are scrutinised at the centre,” he adds
6