Fighting odds, Kerala's Wayanad becomes first fully e-file administered district

Enlisted as one of the most backward districts in the country, Wayanad in Kerala has fought all odds and become the state's first district to fully shift to the e-file system from the village office-level to the district collectorate.

Many village offices of this district are located in remote areas and tribal hamlets where internet is a luxury, adding to its achievement of automating the entire workflow of the government. It is represented by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha.

The e-file system aims to bring transparency and accountability in government activities with options like file tracking and file status monitoring facilities for the public. Officials are also sighing in reilef as physical transfer of files from village offices in remote locations to taluk offices and collectorate used to be a tiring task. Moreover, a shift to the e-file system has also ensured that the functioning of the district administration up to the grass-root level remained unaffected during the Covid lockdown.

Wayanad district has 49 village offices and three taluk offices. Though the number of village offices is comparatively low, the remote locations of many village offices made the implementation a challenging task, which started in 2015.

The district administration incentivised officials to effectively implement the system. Officials of Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) implementing the e-office system across the state said that Wayanad could be even the first district in the country to make this much progress in transforming to e-files. A formal declaration of the same is likely to be made by the government soon.

KSITM district project officer Nived S told DH that the primary focus was to establish high-speed internet connectivity at the village offices in remote locations as cables had to be laid through tough terrains and forest areas. BSNL and some private service providers made it possible. In some of the villages, cables were damaged in the natural calamities and there were also instances of wild animals damaging cables. Since many of the hilly areas faced frequent power failure during rough weather, UPS systems had to be installed.

Apart from giving training to officials on using the systems, people are also being made aware of the facilities like submitting applications and checking its status online. People generally depend on Akshaya digital service centres for these services.

Wayanad district collector A Geetha, who felicitated officials for effective implementation of the e-office, said that so far 1.03 lakh e-files were handled. During this year, 25,410 e-files were handled so far and pendency could be minimised.

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