Now, councillors will have to be tech-savy

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 11

In a major step towards use of information technology (IT) in the functioning of the Municipal Corporation and going paperless, the MC Commissioner has now decided that from the next MC House meeting, the agendas and minutes of the meeting will be delivered to councillors on their official email-ids.

Not only the MC House meeting, the agendas and minutes of the MC sub-committees will also be delivered to the councillors on their email.

Confirming the development, the MC Commissioner, B Purushartha, said at present, the MC prints agendas and minutes of meetings which were delivered at the residence of the councillors. But now, the MC has decided to save paper and use IT in the civic body’s functioning and from the next MC House meeting, the councillors will get agenda and minutes on their official email-ids, he said.

According to information, the MC in 2012 had spent Rs 17 lakh to make the councillors tech-savvy. In June 2012, all councillors (26 elected and nine nominated) were given brand new 'Dell' laptops with an Internet connection.

Efforts didn’t bring desired results in previous House

Efforts to develop the MC as a tech-savvy local body had fallen flat as most councillors in the previous House (2007-2011), who were issued laptops, did not use the machines and the project virtually remained a non-starter. Barring a few members, a majority of the councillors had not shown interest in learning how to operate a laptop, resulting in a loss of Rs 15 lakh public money. In 2009, a month -long special computer training session was also held for all 35 councillors, but only five councillors had turned up for the training programme. 

Majority of councillors not tech-savvy

In the present house as well, Of 35 councillors, 13 do not know how to operate a laptop. When asked, a councillor said “I don’t know how to operate the laptop so I will take help from my children”.