e-Governance in West Bengal: On the Highway of Growth : By - Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal

The importance of e- Governance can be understood from what is being said, “in future, either there will be ‘e-Government’ or no Government”. If one looks at the progress of e-Governance in terms of states, West Bengal is no exception to this. Leveraging the power of ICT, the Government of West Bengal has acknowledged the importance of IT for the development of the state. Initiating key reforms to bridge the digital divide, the West Bengal Government has been trying to make IT a dominant player. 

 

The Government of West Bengal has been making unremitting efforts to improve service delivery as well as internal efficiency and effectiveness in operations by implementing a number of e-Government projects. 

 

West Bengal is today poised to accelerate the use of information technology at the government level with a view to providing better and expeditious services to the citizens of the state. “I would keep West Bengal in the Leader category as far asimplementation of e-Governance is concerned,” says West Bengal IT secretary Mr Siddharth. 

 

The Government of West Bengal has taken many e-Governance initiatives by announcing its IT policy, which is very comprehensive and it incorporates all the things that other states offer. Accordingly, an e-governance road map has been prepared by the Government. “The main vehicle for reaching the public at large is through communication and connectivity,” said Mr. B. Chatterjee, Principal Secretary, IT Department. 

 

The West Bengal Government has recognized the importance and scope of e-Governance and promoted the use of necessary technology for efficiency and transparency in its functioning.

 

According to Mr Siddharth, for e-Governance, the State Govt has allotted fund out of the State Core Plan to the tune of Rs 10.00 crore and Rs 14.25 crore as Additional Central Assistance as regards NeGP for the FY 2007-08. 

 

There are a lot of plans undertaken by the State Govt to implement NeGP in the State :-

* During 2006-07, the Government initiated the work of expansion of WBSWAN upto GP level in Bardhaman district as a pilot project which is likely to be completed within March 2007. This would establish connectivity between State Head Quarter and the District, Sub-Divisions, Blocks and GPs, thus enabling transfer of voice and data upto the GP level. 

* The Government has also taken up the work of extending WBSWAN connectivity upto the Block level in all other districts along with Horizontal connectivity between various Government Departments at the District, Sub-Divisional and Block level as well as between 22 office buildings in Kolkata. 

* The various e-governance ‘applications’’developed by the Departments like Finance, Treasuries, Commercial Tax, Tele-medicine, WB Police, Transport, Agriculture etc have been made available on this WBSWAN backbone. 

* During this period , steps have been taken for preparation of Detailed Project Reports and their subsequent implementation in the 14 Government Departments under the Mission Mode Project of National e-Governance Plan. 

* As mentioned above, the State Government is going to extend the WBSWAN connectivity up to the Block level – the intermediate tier of the Panchayati Raj system in West Bengal. The capital expenditure of the entire project is being funded by Department of IT, GOI. This would mean extension of connectivity to 65(six five) subdivisions and 341 blocks. 

* Bankura and Jalpaiguri have been chosen under the e-District Programme.

 

The automation of workflow and internal processes of the District Administration as well as the seamless integration of various Departments like Health, Land & Land Reforms, Panchayat & Rural Development Department etc for providing improved services to the citizens are envisaged under the programme. 

 

West Bengal State Portal modelled on the guidelines of India Portal, the State Portal www.westbengal.gov.in provides information and interaction services to citizens. It is planned to deliver multiple citizen services through this portal. 

 

The Project of WBSWAN (West Bengal State Wide Area Network) provides the backbone networking for e-Governance projects. Connectivity has been given to eight more industrially and educationally important towns for facilities of distance learning, telemedicine and other e-governance projects. 

 

In the Finance Department, the budgeting process has been fully automated. Major revenue collection offices of the Commercial Tax Directorate have been computerized. Five Border Check Posts along with the National Highways have been connected with the Central Computerized System at the Headquarters at Kolkata. Queries relating to Sales Tax, Luxury Tax, Coal Cess, etc. are received over e-mail from the citizens and are replied via e-mail also. The relevant data of about ten lakh professionals, who are paying Profession Tax, are computerized. Any professional who is self-employed has to take an enrolment under the Profession Tax Act.

 

The Pension Branch of the Pension Directorate has also been computerized. The software for the Pension Calculation and PPO Generation System for the Primary and Secondary School Teachers as well as employees of the Municipalities and Panchayats has been developed by the NIC and has been running for the last four years.

 

In the Transport Department, Smart Cards have been introduced for Registration Certificates and Driving Licences. 

 

Work relating to preparation of land records has been computerized. This has ensured supply of certified copies of updated land records mainly to the Ryots, Bargadars, Pattadars, etc. readily from the local office of the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys, against payment of some fees. 

 

Computerization has been taken up in the Labour Department – Directorate of Employment, Directorate of Boilers, Directorate of Labour and Directorate of Shops & Establishments. 

 

The Kolkata Information Centre maintains a computerized database on the activities of the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs and all other important departments of the Government, private organizations and individuals involved in cultural and related activities. 

 

For effective crime control, it is mandatory to make the Thana processes more efficient and ensure their close liaison with important offices and Courts

• The Webel Technology Limited (WTL) has implemented the computerization of 411 Police Stations including important police establishments and 52 Courts in the state.

• Under this project, the WTL has connected (through Dialup network) all the Thanas in a district with their respective SP Offices and these offices in turn are connected to the police directorate through the WBSWAN. 

• The WTL has developed and installed the following Applications : ‘Thana Criminal Tracking System’ , ‘Police Personnel Management System, ’Document Tracking System,’’‘Financial Management System’, ‘Vehicle Management System and ‘Material Management System’. 

• The Kolkata Police (www.kolkatapolice.org) operates through an efficient intranet connecting the important offices and its police stations. 

 

A Public Grievance Monitoring system was successfully developed and initially implemented by the NIC District Centre at Burdwan. The system has been implemented successfully now at most of the District Offices and also at Kolkata, at Writers’ Buildings, Bikash Bhawan and New Secretariat Buildings. Software for Fund Flow System, File Monitoring System, Letter Monitoring System including receipt and dispatch of letters has been developed by NIC and are already being used in many departments. Projects relating to Geographical Information System (GIS) are being implemented in several Municipalities of the state. GIS for the municipalities of Mahestala, Pujali, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Bidhannagar is complete. 

 

The above initiatives in several sectors will definitely pave the way for introducing IT in all aspects of life leading to an IT-enabled Government. 

 

* Connectivity through WBSWAN 

* Treats Tropical Diseases, viz. Leprosy, Malaria, Kala Azar, etc.

* Live interactive video sessions

* WEBEL/IIT Kgp. Partnership 

* 1,000 patients treated in the last six months

 

* To capture fund-related data from the point of fund order generation or receipt

* To keep track of the funds on the basis of “fo”, generation of uc/reports and to send them to different hierarchical levels 

 

* Ability to implement Large Multi-Locational Projects Paschim Banga Go-Sampad Bikash Sanstha 

* Scope includes computerization of Corporate Offices, District Offices, Frozen Semen Plants, Liquefied Nitrogen Plants and Training Centres West Bengal Police 

* Computerization of State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) Kolkata Police

* Information and Communication Network for Kolkata Police

 

* Developed as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India 

* Electoral Roll Preparation 

* Preparation of Electoral Photo Identity Cards 

 

Webel has implemented a number of remarkable e-governance projects which deliver value to citizens. To name a few, a private Optical Fibre Network, the West Bengal State Wide Area Network (WBSWAN) has been set up connecting all district head quarters, Gram Panchayat level and the Block level. WBSWAN forms the basic backbone of the government’s e-governance programme. 

 

Riding on the basic connectivity, successful projects in the field of health care, law and order, commercial tax applications to name a few have been implemented. The power of IT has been harnessed to bring tangible benefits to citizens in the remote areas of the state through the telemedicine project. The project offers the best of breed medical expertise from Kolkata to people visiting hospitals in districts where this quality of consultation is unavailable. Today, three referral hospitals and six nodal centres have the telemedicine facility established Targets set by West Bengal to achieve during 2007 

 

Rajarhat is going to be a very important IT hub in the country. Forty one small and medium software companies have been allotted 0.25 – 2 acres land per company by HIDCO at Rajarhat. TCS has taken 40 acres of land at Rajarhat for their future expansion. Besides that, several renowned developers like DLF, Unitech etc. have also got land to provide space for IT companies. At Nonadanga around 10 acres of land has been recommended for allotment to IT companies by KMDA. Similarly, several IT companies including Cognizant, British Telecom, Patni Computers, etc. and infrastructure providers have been allotted land within 130 acres of Bantala IT SEZ. Several IT buildings have been erected/are under construction by private developers. There will be huge addition of 20 million sq ft. of such built-up space in Kolkata in the next two to three years’ time based on sanctioned projects. This amount of built-up space synchronises with the kind of growth that the State is targeting in the next three to four years’ time. Riverside development at Batanagar and IT & Auto City at Hind Motors will further augment the availability of space. Efforts have also been initiated to set up IT Parks outside Kolkata at Siliguri, Haldia, Kharagpur and Durgapur. Price Water House Coopers have been given responsibility to study the prospects of these four cities and Kalyani to grow as IT hubs. 

 

The IT Department will constantly interact with perspective investors and convince them about the intrinsic strength of West Bengal as the ideal destination in the IT & ITeS sectors. This will involve one to one meeting with important companies and organizing road shows in major cities. On the promotion side the drive will be maintained by participating in major IT fairs as in 2006-07.