Bangalore One kiosks to be operational from tomorrow

Bangalore One kiosks to be operational from tomorrow

The Hindu


BANGALORE, MARCH 31. The 14 Bangalore One centres, which the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, announced, will become operational from Saturday. They are expected to help many citizens find information and pay their utility bills faster.

Planned and implemented by the e-Governance Department after months of efforts, these centres will bring under one roof the services of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, BSNL, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, City Police, Regional Passport Office, Commercial Taxes Department, Stamps and Registration and Regional Transport Offices.

The Government has spent nearly Rs. 10 crores on setting up the Bangalore One centres.

The services will be free and you can pay utility bills, apply for a new passport or a telephone connection, all within 15 minutes.

To get information about the services offered by these agencies may take you even less time.

Other services to be offered may include reserving cinema tickets and paying mobile phone bills. Citizens will have the option of registering with Bangalore One for various transactions from their homes.

Online service

The State Government plans to offer several government-to-citizen and government-to-business services online, in association with the National Institute of Smart Governance, Hyderabad.

There were doubts initially whether this single window concept will work because most of the agencies involved already offer their services online.

BESCOM, for example, has its own any-time payment kiosks where electricity bills can be paid.

Eventually, an agreement was reached that these utilities will close down their own centres, which are within two kilometres of a Bangalore One centre.

For now, the Government will pay the expenses related to the Bangalore One centres and the citizens get the services free. Nearly 30 lakh transactions a month are expected at these centres.