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E-Governance

BBMP puts up personal details of pourakarmikas on website

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The Hindu          31.05.2017   

BBMP puts up personal details of pourakarmikas on website

The data, up for a month now, was restricted from public access only by Monday

As the debate over privacy and Aadhaar rages across the country, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) courted controversy of its own on Monday by putting out personal details of thousands of pourakarmikas on its website. The information was restricted from public access only by Monday evening after a push from the government.

The BBMP put out details such as Aadhaar, ESIC and Provident Fund numbers, date of joining and type of employment along with the pourakarmikas photographs. They said it was done in an effort to bring in transparency over the employment of pourakarmikas in the city and admitted that it was an “oversight.”

According to sources, the BBMP officials were intimated by Monday afternoon that publishing Aadhaar details was in violation of Aadhaar Act, 2016, which expressly prohibits the same. By evening, the details were removed from public access.

Terming the updating of Aadhaar numbers of pourakarmikas as ‘unnecessary’, Mythri K., of Alternative Law Forum, told The Hindu that the BBMP’s effort to put up these details has revealed that problems such as duplication of names, fake names and the names not matching with the ground reality, exist. She said details of 32,000 pourakarmikas in 198 wards had been published on the BBMP website.

Office memorandum

Incidentally, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology e-Governance group, in an office memorandum on March 25, asked all chief secretaries of the State and IT secretaries not to publish identity information such as Aadhaar number as it is in clear contravention of the provisions of Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016. It specified sections 29(2), 29(3) and 29(4) that constitute an offence under sections 37, 40 and 41, punishable with imprisonment of upto three years.

The memorandum came in the light of personal identity or information of residents, including Aadhaar numbers and demographic information collected by various ministries, departments in administration of various welfare schemes, reportedly being published online and made easily accessible on an online search.

One month


Meanwhile, acknowledging that the publishing of Aadhaar details had been an “oversight” on their part, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath N. Prasad said the details had been up on the website for about a month now. “There had been many allegations that the number of pourakarmikas with the BBMP was inflated. So, their names and other details were put up on the site as a step to increase transparency.” Once this came to his notice on Monday, the details were taken off the website. “The Aadhar details will be removed and rest of the information will be put up after that,” he added.

Despite the main link from the website being removed, another link on the website still had details available online. The Commissioner said that he would ensure that the link would be made accessible only to officials.

The UIDAI has also washed its hands of the matter, saying it is the government agency that puts out the details that is responsible. Scores of details have been leaked in this manner. Even a layman can access details through a Google search. This adds to the vast amount of details already leaked online.

Shijil

Free Software Movement, Karnataka

 

South Delhi municipal corporation brings more services online to increase efficiency

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The Times of India       17.05.2017   

South Delhi municipal corporation brings more services online to increase efficiency

| | Updated: May 17, 2017, 09.30 PM IST
Manoj Tiwari launching the SDMC website.

 

Manoj Tiwari launching the SDMC website.

 

NEW DELHI: For providing better, efficient, transparent and prompt services to citizens South Delhi municipal corporation on Wednesday launched a new website . Lunched by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, the website will take the process of paperless services further as it offers facilities like online tehbazari fee payment, hawking fee payment, hackney-carriage registration and fee payment. Now, the licensees can pay their licence fee and also generate the receipts sitting at home without the need to come to the civic body's office or Citizen Service Bureau Centres.

South Corporation has already brought the sanction of building plans and issue of most of the licences such as general trade licence, health trade licence and factory licence online.

"The new website is more informative and provides most modern facilities to the citizens," Tiwari said after he launched e-mutation service.

Tiwari however could not miss the poor sanitation conditions which marks various parts in South Delhi as well as other parts of the capital. The municipal corporations of Delhi including financially stable South Corporation were among the worst performers in the country in Swachh Survey 2017. South Delhi ranked at 202 position among the 434 cities surveyed.

"For the success of Swatch Bharat Mission we have to remove garbage from all wards within three months," Tiwari, who advised authorities to improve the condition of sanitation, said. He however appreciated SDMC's ease of doing business efforts. He also asked the authorities to identify all dark spots in the wards and install LED for the safety of women and girls.

With the launch of e- mutation services, SDMC commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel said, SDMC has become a pioneer in this field which will provide a big relief to the property holders.

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In the new system of e-mutation the applications can be filed online with all supporting documents. The queries, if any, will also be raised only online and when the application is complete in all respects the taxpayer will be called to the office of the civic body on a particular date and time where he can meet senior officers for verification of the submitted documents. After verification the mutation certificate will be issued online.

SDMC mayor Shyam Sharma said a time period of 15 days has been fixed for issue of mutation certificate from the date of submission of the application. It will also bring more transparency, accountability and efficiency in doing mutation, he said.
 

GHMC forms 29 emergency teams

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The Hindu           11.05.2017 

GHMC forms 29 emergency teams

‘Whatsapp’ group to be formed to share information in emergencies

A day after intense winds and heavy rains lashed the city, it was proposed to allocate one officer from every department for emergency operations.

At a review meeting held on Wednesday, GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy interacted with the heads of various departments like Hyderabad Water Board, Metrological, Electricity and Traffic.

He suggested that one special officer from the departments concerned should be able to tackle any emergency situation and ensure that the equipments are utilised properly for quick restoration of services. The Commissioner further said that a group should be formed on the mobile app ‘Whatsapp’ to share information. Dana Kishore, MD, Hyderabad Water Board said that 29 emergency teams have been formed and they will work from June 1. He said that necessary steps have been taken for the teams to perform their duties efficiently.

The CMD of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Ltd (TS-Genco), Raghuma Reddy said that during heavy rains, they are taking preventive action by seeing to it that damaged hoardings and unipoles do not disrupt the power supply and snap the cables. It was also conveyed that the GHMC was planning to suspend permission to hoardings for the coming one month.

The Fire department officials said that the staff from the 23 fire stations across the city could be used in emergency situations.

In the coming two days also heavy winds and rains are likely to be expected and all the line departments must be on an alert to tackle the issues on priority, said GHMC Commissioner informing that that all the 206 water stagnation points have been identified and cleared. He also appealed to the people to not open manhole covers during rains as it can lead to deaths.

 


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