'PM shows special interest towards 'Sakala' system'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown "special interest" towards 'Sakala', the state's guarantee of government services to citizens system, to look at the possibilities of using it at the national level, Karnataka Minister Suresh Kumar said on Monday.

Sakala has achieved a distinctive milestone of receiving and disposing over 20 crore applications, the Minister said, adding, work is in progress to take it to the next level by making it cashless, faceless and paperless, and also delivering services at the citizen's doorstep.

"I would like to say our state's 'Sakala' is like a flagship programme in the entire country. The Prime Minister has taken special interest about it and had got details about it, to see how to use it at national level," Kumar told reporters here.

Sakala aims to ensure in-time delivery of government services to citizens by practising innovative and efficient management systems through capacity building in government and empowering citizens to exercise their right to service.

Sakala was implemented from April 2012 covering entire the state with 151 services in 11 departments.

At present there are 1,033 services in 91 departments or institutions under Karnataka Sakala Services Act 2011 (Amendment) Act, 2014.

As on October 26, the Minister said 20,09,94,713 applications have been received and 20,02,84,447 applications have been disposed under Sakala, and added he has asked officials to bring more awareness among people about Sakala through publicity.

"When we give publicity we will get more applications."

Pointing out that "bypass" are taking place at government departments with regard to Sakala applications, he said, "...we have told officials there is no place for bypassing any application, all of them should be taken under Sakala itself."

District and Taluk level reviews are being done every month and performance is being analysed, the Minister said.

Noting that Sakala's next step is 'Seva Sindhu', whichwill provide end-to-end online services, Kumar said, "with anidea to be faceless, cashless and paperless we have startedthis recently, and under this 301 services from 43 differentdepartments will be online."

"When we give services online, it will give more meaning to Sakala," he said adding that 8,000 Seve Sindhu centres have been opened in the state especially in rural areas, for providing government services online under one roof.

Seva Sindhu is aimed at providing end-to-end online services with e-sign and digi-locker facility.

It is being integrated with various service delivery channels of the state government, such as Bangalore One, Karnataka One, with an aim to bringing all departmental services under one platform.

Further, going ahead of Seva Sindhu, there is concept of 'Janasevaka' aimed at delivering services to citizens at their doorstep.

Pointing out that it is being tested at T Dasarahalli Assembly constituency of the city on a pilot basis, he said, Janasevaka will be implemented in three assembly constituencies of the city-Bommanahalli, Rajajinagar, Mahadevapura-- in addition to T Dasarahalli.

To a question whether physical applications under Sakala will be stopped, with paperless ecosystem coming into force, Additional Chief Secretary, DPAR (e-Governance) Rajeev Chawla said at centres that are close to residential areas like- urban local bodies, gram panchayats "we will not stop".

Where offices are far like- taluk and district office,the Chief Secretary has given government order that there will be no physical application, he said.

Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar said: "Wherever there are more middlemen like getting BBMP katha done, NA (non-agriculture land) conversion, RT Office at such places we will make online compulsory so that there is no place for middlemen and all transactions happen online."

The Minister said the monthly analysis of Sakala mission in September showed total number of receipts of application at 25,76,030 and 25,03,582 disposals.

"A total of 23,860 pendency were observed as on October 26. Strike rate (in-time disposal) for the month of September has been 97.18 per cent," he said adding that top-performing districts for September are Chikkaballapura, Hassan, Shivamogga, Chamarajanagara and Mandya; while bottom three districts for the month are Bengaluru urban, Bagalkoteand Bidar.

Total over-due for the month of September was 19,457; while total number of delayed disposals was at 73,156 applications, and total rejection rate has been six per cent.

Kumar said there should be no rejection of applications at all, while accepting the applications itself all documents should be taken.

Noting that hailing from Bengaluru it was sad to look at the city's performance in Sakala, the Minister said, "we have reviewed about Bengaluru's performance, and what action need to be taken."