Digital India chariot flagged off in Udupi

Digital India chariot flagged off in Udupi

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, November 17, 2016 : Priyanka Mary Francis, CEO of Udupi Zilla Panchayat, flagged off the Digital India chariot or “ratha” here on Wednesday.

This chariot, an initiative of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, will travel to all villages of Udupi district for the next 45 days with the objective of making people aware how to avail themselves of government services online.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Francis said that the chariot would visit the panchayat offices, schools and colleges in the district and give them details of the government services available under Digital India programme.

The government was setting up one-stop centres called as Common Service Centres in the gram panchayats.

People will be able to pay their various bills, including telephone bills, electricity bills, water bills and railway tickets, at the centres.

Applications would be accepted online for driving licence, birth and death certificates, PAN cards, land documents, voter ID cards and such other services.

The chariot would make presentation of various government schemes, including the Jan Dhan Yojana, in the villages, Ms. Francis said.

Pramod, e-District Project Manager, said that three such chariots, including the one in Udupi, were criss-crossing different districts in the State for the last five months. This was being done because of the special interest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as all data was getting digitalised.

Common Service Centres (CSCs) were expected to be set up throughout the State in the next two-and-a-half months. These CSCs would provide 365 services, including private and public.

Of the 365 services, 165 services came under the domain of the State government, while the remaining 200 were under the Union government. While State government’s services were already available online, the Union government’s services would be made available in next two-and-a-half months.

“For instance, people need not go to Regional Transport Offices to apply for a service. Instead, they would be able to log on to “e-Sampark” portal, which was expected to be launched soon, and apply online,” he said.

G. Anuradha, Additional Deputy Commissioner, was present.

Courtesy: The Hindu