Tardy implementation of E-Panchayat in Telangana

Tardy implementation of E-Panchayat in Telangana
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Highlights

The Digital Telangana move takes a beating as the e-Panchayat implementation fails to meet its objective of citizen services delivery in the State.The e-Panchayat project was rolled out as a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) three years ago to strengthen Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country.

Hyderabad: The Digital Telangana move takes a beating as the e-Panchayat implementation fails to meet its objective of citizen services delivery in the State.The e-Panchayat project was rolled out as a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) three years ago to strengthen Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country. Sources in the State Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department said that “the project implementation is yet to gain ground in the State.”

People in rural areas are not benefitted due to poor implementation of e-Panchayat project in Telangana. Supply of PoS machines to bill collectors is suggested for better implementation

The project was taken up in the State three years ago selecting districts Mahbubnagar and Warangal (with highest number of clusters) of PRIs and Nizamabad (with lowest number of PRI clusters). The e-Panchayat facilitates the PRIs in “planning, monitoring, implementation, budgeting, accounting, and social audit. But till date they could not implement the citizens’ services in majority of the Panchayats said a senior official.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the State Panchayat Raj and Rural Development pointed out that 600 Panchayats were selected to implement the project. The task of training of resource persons had been assigned to a private company. Panchayats selected for the purpose remained ill equipped to handle the services. However, the citizen services are being offered through Palle Samagra Seva Kendram (PSSK), launched in about 100 Panchayats in October, 2015.

Following a reminder from the Centre which wanted to know as to why implementation has been poor, Chief Secretary S P Singh has now called for a review meeting.Officials from Choutuppal, a major gram panchayat in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district said that the major problem being faced by the Panchayats is the usage of manual bill books by the bill collectors for collection of taxes and to issue receipts and entering the details online manually.

Sometimes this practice is resulting in discrepancies and irregularities in the collections. Unless the bill collectors are provided with Point of Sale (PoS) machines, the objective of e-Panchayat would remain incomplete, the official pointed out.

By VRC Phaniharan

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