Guj govt launches digital services programme for panchayats

While launching the initiative through video conferencing from Gandhinagar, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the programme, under the Centre's BharatNet project, will reduce hardships faced by villagers. As per a government release, under this initiative, 27 different government services and welfare schemes will be available at panchayat offices and villagers won't have to go to taluka or district-level offices to procure forms, certificates and documents.

The Gujarat government on Thursday launched the first phase of the "Digital Seva Setu" program, under which 2,792 village panchayats have been connected with an optical fiber network to provide public welfare services online. While launching the initiative through video conferencing from Gandhinagar, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the program, under the Centre's BharatNet project, will reduce hardships faced by villagers.

As per a government release, under this initiative, 27 different government services and welfare schemes will be available at panchayat offices and villagers won't have to go to taluka or district-level offices to procure forms, certificates, and documents. These services include ration cards, affidavits and certificates for widows, residence, caste, senior citizen, language-based minority, a religious minority, and income certificates, it was stated.

Talatis or revenue officers have been authorized to provide affidavits at the village level so that beneficiaries don't have to visit notary offices in towns and cities, the chief minister said. Apart from reducing the hardships of villagers, the initiative will also eliminate middlemen from the system, the release stated.

The move will change the administration's work culture and reduce crowding at government offices, besides helping save villagers' time and money by providing various services at their doorstep, Rupani said. By December this year, the state government aims to cover another 8,000 villages and all 14,000-odd village panchayats by 2021, he said.