Now, services a click away at Lokmitra Kendra

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 14

Services for which rural folks had to make rounds of the Common Service Centre, popularly known as Lokmitra Kendra, are now a click away.

Earlier confined to the payments of bills, the Lokmitra Kendra has become a single organ providing a large number of services through a single login. The first phase of training of the kendra staff has been completed.

“Aadhaar-based services, birth, death, marriage and BPL certificates, election-related services, online police complaints, migrant labour registration, jamabandi, MGNREGA registration, land records, farmers registration, e-samadhan and filing of VAT returns can be availed at the Lokmitra Kendra,” said additional Chief Secretary (Information Technology) Sanjeev Gupta.

“Every week, one or two services are being added,” he said, adding that the idea was to save the general public from shuttling between places. With the single login, all services can be availed easily. There are about 2,066 Lokmitra Kendras in the state. Gupta said though India was second after China in Internet use, but the number of users was 6-7 per cent in rural areas.

The Lokmitra Kendra project aims at establishing 3,366 e-governance centres at the panchayat level while the Common Service Scheme approved by Government of India has been launched to serve government, private and social sector.