'98 pc of Sakala applications cleared'

The State government will soon appoint district-level nodal officers to oversee the implementation of ‘Sakala scheme’ under the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act wherein 151 services of the government are to be rendered to citizens within a stipulated period.

Speaking to reporters after holding a review meeting of the scheme on Monday in
Bangalore, three weeks since it was launched state-wide, Law minister Suresh Kumar said 6.66 lakh applications have been received under the scheme with revenue and commercial taxes departments receiving the most hits.

Across the State, various departments have cleared 98.44 per cent of the applications within the stipulated period, he said.

The revenue department has received 2,47,500 applications and has already cleared 98.45 per cent of them within the deadline. The services under revenue department include providing all types of caste certificates, income certificate, record of rights certificate, birth and death certificates among others.

What the system means for the common man is that the bureaucracy will have to deliver within a set deadline a list of services notified in the State gazette.

The government was taking various measures to further finetune the system, including appointment of the nodal officers, Suresh Kumar said. In addition, the feedback from four persons per day from each district was being compiled.

An information handbook on the progress made by the scheme and the suggestions received would be brought out in May, the minister said.

Top three districts with the lowest pendency of Sakala applications (in percentage): Dakshina Kannada (0.89), Chitradurga (0.81), Bijapur (0.8).