240 more govt services to come under Sakala in Karnataka

As many as 240 government services will soon be added under the "Sakala" initiative, which ensures time-bound service to the public, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said today.

Speaking after releasing the August-2013 report of the Karnataka Sakala Services Act 2011, he noted that 375 services across various government departments are currently under the scheme.

"In the coming days, we are planning to add 240 services under Sakala", he told reporters.

Jayachandra said all 177 taluks and 30 district offices -- totalling 207 -- would have Sakala help desks by next month.

According to officials, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, through the call centre, would speak (through recorded messages) to all citizens who have provided mobile numbers under Sakala to understand citizens' needs and collect their feed back.

This would give citizens an opportunity to take their grievances and suggestions directly to the attention of the Chief Minister, they noted.

Sakala Mission Director and DPAR Secretary Shalini Rajneesh said a team of governors from Afghanistan came over to understand Sakala services, after the first grop went back inspired.

Noted educationist from IIM Ahmedabad, Anil Gupta, came to document Sakala case study for IIMA graduates, she said, adding, the Sakala model has been adopted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Personnel Grievances (DARPG) for country-wide 'training of trainers' module to help all administrators in improving service delivery.

According to officials, by last month-end, more than 50 per cent of the state's population had utilised Sakala services.

While the districts of Uttara Kannada, Kolar and Chamarajanagar took the top positions in implementing Sakala last month, it was Gudibanda in Chikkaballapur district which stole the show for being most consistent among taluks, followed by Kumta and Ankola.