State IT projects bag awards

The Centre’s National e-Governance Plan has instituted these awards to recognise, foster and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives, and is presented by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances. The awards are given in seven category under which Gold, Silver & Bronze icons are presented.

While, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)’s AWATAR (Any Where Any Time Advance Reservation) web based passenger seat reservation system has won Silver Icon under Exemplary Usage of ICT by PSUs category, Centre for e-Governance’s e-procurement — EPROC initiative has picked Bronze Icon for Exemplary Horizontal Transfer of ICT-based Best Practices.

Increased efficiency

KSRTC, which has been in forefront of adopting and deploying IT tools to optimise efficiency and reduce operational costs, since AWATAR was ushered in 2006, has seen its daily average booking going up to 15,000 tickets fetching revenues of Rs 60 lakh with 346 counters across Karnataka and other prominent places outside Karnataka. On peak days, revenue realised is said to cross Rs 90 lakh with total bookings at 25,000 tickets.

Further, AWATAR application, says the corporation, has more than two lakh registered users including those residing in other countries. Around 6 lakh site visits are recorded per month and 94 lakh page views are recorded per month. On an average 16.08 pages per visit is viewed.

Likewise, Centre for e-Governance’s EPROC — e-Procurement system used as shared infrastructure by all procurement entities in State for procurement of goods, works and services electronically, is being expanded further to  implement contract & catalogue management, e-Auctions and integrated with State Treasury to facilitate online payments to suppliers/contractors.