The country is moving towards digitalization. One after the other, state governments are bringing up services online for two major reasons, transparency and de-burdening the public. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said bureaucrats would be held responsible if they fail to deliver services to citizens under the Right to Services (RTS) Act in Maharashtra.
We’re sure this has sent a strong message amongst the bureaucrats to implement the act, not just on paper. It interestingly provides for penalties for officials who wouldn’t deliver services in the time they’re bound to do so. Government officials in India are best known for delaying procedures and filling their own pockets to work faster. The tough statement by the CM will surely get them on their toes.
Check out the Speech given by Shri Devendra Fadanvis during launch of Right to Service Online Portal
The Right To Services (RTS) online platform on the https://aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in/en portal had stopped working right next day after inauguration. It has however been restored now.
The government chose the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri to launch the RTS act. On the occasion, Fadnavis said, “We are committed to provide public services within the stipulated time to citizens. Officials will be held accountable if they fail to provide such services to the public.” 150 services have been notified under the act already.
With this, Maharashtra becomes the first state to adopt online RTS act. It was also the first to have RTI online. However, one can only file RTI for Maharashtra state government here, and not the central or other state governments. Now its going to get easier for people to file an RTI application as the portal also has a payment gateway.
The state government had notified 224 services spread across various departments under the RTS. Almost 46 services have been posted online. So we see this is a gradual process. We’ll have to wait for all the rest to get online. “Bringing RTS online is a step forward to bring in greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of the government. It will also help us combat corruption in the system,” Fadnavis said.
“Why should any person be deprived of his/her right to procure a birth certificate? What is the logic of keeping people waiting for basic documents like domicile, death or marriage certificates?” he said. The Maharashtrians who reside outside Maharashtra will also be able to bear fruits of this service. People need not visit the Regional Transport Office (RTO) for applying for a driving licence as that, too, can be done online. However, we are still unclear of the driving test factor yet.
Some services of the revenue, food and civil supplies and transport departments can also be also availed online, so we see it is spanning over many sectors already. This will also reduce the burden of Government officials in a way, only if they have self-sufficient technical know how. Many of the older government officials are yet struggling with operating computers. How efficiently will they be able to deal with India going digital at a super pace is for time to tell.
