State tops in e-governance

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

The Union Government has ranked e-governance project of Punjab as number 1 among all states in the country.

The quarterly ranking released by the Union Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT) on October 31 has rated the e-district Punjab project as the best in the country for its effective pilot project implementation, backend computerisation of maximum number of services among all states, on-time selection of system integrator, delivery of hardware and connectivity in more than 1,000 field offices, robust governance structure in the form of district e-governance society and other best features.

This is the second achievement of the Punjab Department of Governance Reforms headed by Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal after it had won the coveted Prime Minister Award for Public Administration earlier this year.

As many as 42 public services pertaining to 10 different departments are made available at suwidha centres working at district and sub-divisional levels under the e-governance project.

Confirming the development, Kaushal said the DEIT has assessed e-district projects of 36 states and Union Territories for this ranking and had taken several parameters for assessment.

While Madhya Pradesh ranked second, Uttar Pradesh was adjudged third in the country. Chandigarh stood at 15th position, Haryana and Delhi shared 11th rank, Himachal Pradesh ranked 14th while J&K finished second last at 35th rank. Bihar remained the laggard at the last 36th position. Punjab’s e-district pilot project had also won Skoch Award and CSI-Nihilent Award for its best implementation last year.