After e-budget, Tamil Nadu government departments to get ‘e-offices’

After presenting the state’s first ‘paperless’ budget, the DMK dispensation in Tamil Nadu has now decided to establish ‘e-offices’ in all departments of the Secretariat, as part of its efforts to ensure “transparency” in the functioning of the government.

To be implemented at a cost of Rs 13.44 crore, the ambitious project has received “administrative proposal” and “financial sanction” from the government. The move comes weeks after Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan presented Tamil Nadu’s first ‘e-budget’ as legislators were glued to the computer screens at their desks instead of flipping through a voluminous book.

The Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) had sent a detailed proposal to set up ‘e-offices’ at all department offices in the Secretariat by quoting Rs 21.46 crore as the budget. However, the government after “careful examination” restricted the proposal to Rs 13.44 crores, a Government Order (GO) issued on August 23 said.

The e-office project envisages removing the manual file movement in the departments gradually, the GO said, adding that the requisite Software User Licence to implement e-office lite product will be purchased from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The e-office will provide role-based login to maintain a proper file creation hierarchy and will ensure automatic generation of MIS (Management Information System) reports for every individual and many other classified reports.

“The note file/draft created by any user is acknowledged with a time and date stamp along with a digital signature if integrated with the application. Reminders are enabled to notify any pending file activity/action to be carried on the specific period,” the GO said.

Officials said the tracking of files would become easier in ‘e-offices’ and the system would benefit people by way of “transparency in the file movement system.”

They said Chief Minister M K Stalin was keen on introducing the ‘e-office’ system. The government has already asked all its departments to go only for e-tender for procurement.

“Not just transparency, we can also contribute to the environment by reducing the dependence on paper. E-files are much more comfortable, and they will become the order of the day soon,” a senior government official said.