Chittaranjan Tembhekar, TNN | Nov 24, 2014, 11.10PM IST
MUMBAI: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has set a five-point IT-centric agenda for the state administration, toeing the Centre's line. Sources said it was aimed at eliminating the scope for corruption, and introducing transparency, efficiency and accountability in day-to-day administration.
The state will start from its own employees, who will be monitored for their presence on the field during outdoor visits. For all employees, including those at the chief minister's office, electronic file clearance will be compulsory so that employees can concentrate on the field and people-oriented work. "The government will make the geo-coordination application mand- atory for mobile handsets of every government employee, to know their location during duty hours. No employee can stay at home and show field visits or tours as the reason," the sources said.
Tenders of work costing Rs3 lakh and above will be processed online; the earlier limit was Rs10 lakh. "This will ensure accountability and transparency even for smaller projects. The file clearance system will fix accountability for delays and wrong remarks," Mantralaya sources said.
The state will fix a deadline for file clearance in its offices, including Mantralaya, to avoid wastage of time and energy in manually clearing them. Similarly, state government employees' salaries will be deposited in their bank accounts through the Aadhaar payment bridge. Employees will have to authenticate accounts with their Aadhaar ID, based on which the state treasury will transfer the salary.
These IT initiatives were discussed and formulated for early execution at a meeting of IT department officials in the presence of Fadnavis recently. Top secretaries at Mantralaya, including chief secretary Swadheen Kshtriya, IT secretary Rajesh Agrawal and newly appointed officer on special duty to the CMO for IT upgrade, Kaustubh Dhawase, were present, besides representatives of IT industry giants such as Nasscom, TCS and Cognizant.
Fadnavis also directed the state to review the e-tendering process to know if it had really introduced transparency in financial dealings and suggest if a further upgrade was possible.
Electronic chalans for vehicles flouting traffic rules was another initiative top on the government's agenda.
The state will also set up a taskforce under the CM's leadership to monitor the progress of permission and approvals to industries. "It will monitor applications on a day-to-day basis. Even issues such as women safety, being faced by offices operating late at night, will be administered and monitored," an official said.