JOIN USBangaloreOne centres give 'Sakala' a run for its money
‘Sakala,’ the recently launched initiative of the State Revenue department to provide time-bound services, seems to have a competitor in Citizens Service Centres or BangaloreOne centres.
The time taken for the delivery of Some services sets the two flagship services apart. While ‘Sakala’ takes three to seven days, it is immediate in BangaloreOne centres.
The revenue office at Jayanagar 4th Block has accumulated a mere 17 applications (as on March 13) seeking issue of khata certificates and khata extracts ever since the State’s ambitious scheme, ‘Sakala,’ was launched earlier this month by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda.
The revenue office which is presently serving as a trial centre for the reliability scheme has its share of teething problems.
A day’s visit to the office revealed that the scheme is yet to make an impression on the minds of the citizens who are presently depending on the services offered by Citizens Service centres or BangaloreOne Centres. The quick delivery of services by BangaloreOne centres has left ‘Sakala’ in the shadows.
Officials said this was the main reason for the lower number of applications under ‘Sakala’. They said citizens were heard complaining about the time taken by the revenue office to deliver the services.
The department received just one application on a single day, recently. Officials said processing the application was rather cumbersome.
The application goes to the accountant who then forwards it to the assistant revenue officer. The latter sends it back to the accountant with his signature.
The Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act, which has been renamed ‘Sakala’, was launched on a pilot basis on March 1. Four departments, namely revenue, health, trade licences and engineering, are to render services within the stipulated time. Else, they have to pay a compensation of Rs 20 to the applicant for each day’s delay.
No applications
The trade licences and engineering departments have not received a single application till date. Officials in the two departments say the scheme needs to be publicised more aggressively.
The health department, which went online in 2010, is progressing fairly well. Till date, it has received 92 applications seeking birth certificates and 48 applications seeking death certificates.
The glitch, however, is that only two staff members are left to handle the heavy inflow of applications.
The two staffers are also required to make house visits for verification. The officials said educating citizens about the new scheme was also eating into their time.
The department is managing with just one computer, in which details of applications for birth and death certificates are stored. Officials said this was making it difficult to process the applications faster.
The officials are also seen running around to a shop to get the documents scanned as the department does not have a scanner of its own.
Integration, the next way
Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, DPAR (AR) said the revenue department’s problem would be fixed once the scheme is operationalised across the State from April 2. She said the services offered by BangaloreOne centres would be integrated with ‘Sakala’.
Once this happens, services would be delivered immediately through ‘Sakala’ (April onwards). She said all the 11 departments under the scheme had been asked to conduct an equipment survey and that the expenses incurred would be borne under the scheme.