67 services to go online

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 25

In the coming days, with the implementation of e-governance project, the residents will not have to come to the Municipal Corporation office for map approval, water-sewerage connection or birth-death certificates as the civic body has decided to make work of all its branches online.

Even the work on this has been initiated at the ground level. Advertising, property tax, sewerage-water bills, park, sanitation and fire brigade among 67 services would go online.

It would check the practice of giving commission to agents for getting their work done in the MCB.

The Local Bodies Department has initiated the work to make these services available online under the e-governance project.

Even the death and birth record will also be available online and hospitals would be able to do registration through Internet. The applicant would get update through e-mail and SMS.

Property tax information regarding building area, khasra number, building floor, covered area, land owner and co-owner information would be available.

Senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal said it was good that the department was making every possible use of the modern day technology to provide various services on the doorstep of its consumers.

The facility will be beneficial to the public as they would save their time and money by not visiting offices.

Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had signed an MoU with the e-Governance Foundation (e-Gov) of Nandan Nilekani for the management of electronic governance of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) throughout Punjab.

Under the MoU, 67 services would be provided online within a span of one year under 12 modules, namely property tax, water and sewerage management, complaints and grievance, licensing, fire service, verification, birth and death, ULB web portal, mobile app, state and ULB dashboards, payroll and financial accounting.

A meeting was recently held in Chandigarh in which the Local Bodies Department director had issued instructions to the commissioners of the MCs to speed up the online work.