M A I N   N E W S

Computerisation eliminates touts
From A.S. Prashar
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, March 18 — The large tribe of touts in Ludhiana may soon find itself on the list of “extinct species”, thanks to the computerisation of most of public-dealing government offices located in the mini secretariat housing the district administration.

And so impressive have been the results of the Ludhiana district going techno-savvy, that the Punjab Government has decided to replicate the success story here in all districts of the state. Fatehgarh Sahib is another district following closely in the footsteps of Ludhiana in the direction of computerisation.

Government offices are notorious for red-tapism and delays which in turn breed corruption. More than a thousand people visit the offices of the Deputy Commissioner, the Senior Superintendent of Police and the Transport and Sub-Registrar every day for one reason or the other. In order to speed up things, most are ready to grease the itchy palms of those who handle the files. This is where the touts come in.

Be it the arms licence, driving licence, motor vehicle registration certificate or registration of a land deed, the touts can get it done speedily for a fee. There are any number of people in the city willing to pay to avoid harassment. Known as the Manchester of India, Ludhiana is the financial capital of Punjab. The district has the distinction of leading the state in the field of agriculture as well as industry. It is also the epicentre of the green revolution. Therefore, there is plenty of money available for the touts’ tribe to flourish.

But with the installation of computers and closed-circuit TV cameras in important government offices, touts have begun to realise that their services are no longer required.

The project for computerisation of important offices at the district level was conceived by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Goel, who was assisted in its execution by Mr K. Siva Prasad, Additional Deputy Commissioner, himself a computer engineer.

The project launched on January 10, 2000, has begun to yield results. Registration of a vehicle with the transport authority which earlier took more than 15 days and required several trips is now done in seven to eight minutes. The entire data is available on the computer at the press of the button.

Registration of land deals in the Sub-registrar’s office which frequently involved underhand deals has become a model of efficiency and transparency. The previous system was 150 years old and was lengthy requiring repeated entries. The possibilities of fraud and corruption were many. In the new system, the seller, purchaser and witnesses are photographed by a videocamera and their photographs printed on the back of one of the pages of the sale and stored in the data in the computer. This makes the transaction foolproof.

It ensures the delivery of registered deeds the same day and blunts criticism frequently levelled against the office the Sub-registrar for making registries even in the absence of the parties concerned. It also checks impersonation and minimises chances of a fraud in land deeds.

Similarly, issue and renewal of arms licences has also been computerised.

A new dimension has been added in further improving government-citizen interface by changing the traditional system of taking corrective steps only when a visitor complains about it to the officer concerned. Close-circuit TV cameras have been installed at various spots in the mini secretariat where the public dealing is the maximum.