By Express News Service
Published: 13th January 2016 04:07 AM
- E-seva centre at Egmore taluk office P Ravikumar
CHENNAI: The next time you need to pay your telephone bill or get an income certificate, you can walk into any of the 126 e-Seva centres across the city inaugurated by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister commenced payment of electricity bills at the centres, which have been set up at a cost of Rs 1.95 crore. “Each e-Seva centre will have one employee manning the space to help with the process. For larger offices with more inflow of people, there will be two employees,” said a representative of e-Seva.
On February 24, 2014, the Chief Minister had inaugurated 14 e-Seva centres in the city as a pilot project. Through these, the procedure to pay wealth tax, electricity bill, drinking water and sewerage charges and various other taxes has been simplified. Through these measures, the public can also get key certificates like income certificate, community certificate and so on. So far, 1.15 crore persons have benefitted through these centres across the State.
In continuation of the pilot project, e-Seva centres have been set up in 126 ward offices in Chennai, which will provide 54 services. These include the 16 services provided by the revenue department, 13 services provided by the Social Welfare Department, six educational assistance services provided by Adi Dravida Welfare and Backward, Most Backward and Minorities Welfare Department, four services offered by Chennai Corporation and application for examinations conducted by the Tamil Nadu State Public Service Commission.
The infrastructure cost has been footed by the Corporation, while the manpower has been taken care of by the cable TV department. Payment of property tax, birth or death certificates can be availed free of cost from these centres. For the remaining services from passport application to obtaining nativity certificate, a nominal amount must be remitted (not more than Rs 50). There is also a list of social welfare schemes, which can be applied for at these centres for a fee of Rs 100. “We process a lot of Aadhaar and passport requests on a weekly basis. Local residents usually know of the facility in their area and they spread it through word of mouth,” said an official.
As per protocol, originals of all documents have to be carried. They will be scanned and returned to people after the verification process.
If you have any queries, call the toll-free number 18004252911.