To cut red tape, govt to shift to e-office

To speed up clearance of files and put an end to the red tape, the state government will shift to “e-office”, a new software where files are created and cleared online, saving more than 50% time.

The move is described as the next phase of e-governance after the implementation of Sachivalaya Vahini in October 2011, which has so far not been able to deliver the expected result of speedy governance at secretariat level.

Admitting that Sachivalaya Vahini has not been utilised in full scale, Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, however, said the software was not a total failure as it helped understand several issues. “Because of Sachivalaya Vahini, we now know how many files are pending with a department for more than seven days and 15 days. We are now taking steps cut the delays,” he said.

As part of the initiative, the chief secretary’s office has been sending daily messages to enquire about the number of pending files. “In the last six months, we have been able to reduce the number of pending files from 1.5 lakh to 1.2 lakh,” he said.

Most of the delay is due to the tedious process of file transfer between departments, and the government hopes that e-office will bridge that gap. “We have a situation where routine files take seven to 15 days to move from one department to another. With e-office, the entire process will happen online, saving more than 50% of the time and reducing the use of paper in office,” the chief secretary said.

A senior official from the Centre for e-Governance said the project, announced in the budget, makes the entire process online. “A file is created as Yellow Note and goes through several rounds of corrections before getting clearances and becoming a Green Note. The time log of every file and its transfer to departments can be tracked to monitor delay,” he said, adding that even those documents that come in physical form will have to be scanned and uploaded to e-offoce.

The chief secretary has written to the heads of all departments to take an active part in the training programme to be held between October and December. “It has been planned to shift to e-office starting from January 1, 2019, but the process will happen in phases. Availability of infrastructure and adaptability of each department has to be considered,” he said.