Punjab inks MoU with e-gov Foundation to provide online services of ULBs

In a bid to provide citizen centric - service, Punjab Government has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with e-Governance Foundation (e-Gov) of Nandan Nilekani regarding the managing of electronic governance of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) throughout Punjab.

Provisions under Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) :

• According to the MoU, a total of 67 services would be provided online within a span of 1 year under 12 modules namely Property Tax, Water & Sewerage Management, Complaints and Grievances, Licensing, Fire Service, Verification, Birth and Death, ULB web portal, Mobile App, State and ULB Dashboards, Payroll and Financial Accounting.
• A public grievances app would also be rolled out pertaining to these services enabling the people to lodge their complaints in case they encounter any problem.
• The initial focus was on improved street lighting, controlling mosquito menace, managing stray dog menace, improved waste management and reducing potholes.
• Over 500 IT experts would be hired through TCS for the capacity building of ULBs.10 experts each would be deployed with each of the municipal corporations, while five experts each would be assigned to each medium-level municipal councils and two each for each smaller municipal councils/nagar panchayats.

Analysis :

• It will focus on e-governance to ensure transparency, simplifying service delivery, and driving efficiency.
• The representatives of Punjab stated that their vision would not be merely technology enablement but the start to process re-engineering.
• It will help in enabling efficient and effective municipal operations and contact-less urban service delivery, with the use of scalable and replicable technology solutions.
• It will facilitate in delivering the citizen centric services to the people of the state in a transparent and smooth manner so as to ensure that they don't have to make rounds of government offices to avail the same.
• It will act as catalysts of helping government offer services to people without corruption.
• It will also pave the way for Smarts cities Mission of Government.

eGovernments Foundation :

It was established in 2003, by Nandan Nilekani and Srikanth Nadhamuni to solve hard to crack urban governance challenges using cutting edge technology offering collaborative smart solutions which empower governments and citizens to meaningfully interact with each other and catalyze urban development for the greater good.

By: Harman Sandhu