Jan 31 deadline for e-district project launch

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will launch its ambitious e-district project by January 31. The project envisages integrated and seamless electronic delivery of citizen services by the district administration through automation of work flow, online verification of citizen data and integration across participating departments.

However, with the assembly polls in Delhi expected to be announced early next month, it may actually not take off till a new government takes charge.

Seen as a key e-governance scheme to prevent corruption in public dealings, the revenue department plans to provide certificates of marriage, income, domicile, caste and disability through the e-district platform. Services like marriage registration and issuance of certificates were proposed to be launched in November in one of the districts, but bureaucratic changes and reshuffles slowed down the process.

The project is aimed at eliminating the need for citizens to visit the office counters to get certificate-related services. Duplicate copies of a certificate, if required, will also be available online as digitally signed certificates will be available in the citizen profile. In the new system, payment can also be made online. Revenue secretary SN Sahay said the department was digitizing old certificates so that verification for new applications can be done online in real time. This way, two to three weeks' time spent in postal verification can also be avoided.

Sahay further said the department had streamlined the victim compensation scheme. At present, the amount of compensation released to victims of various types of crimes is released within 24 hours. This used to take months earlier, he said.

He also said the Delhi government had sought Rs 120 crore from the Centre for disbursal of compensation to the next of kin of victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.