BCC site stuck in a cobweb of antiquity

BCC site stuck in a cobweb of antiquity
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The following is some of the ‘useful’ information available on the website of Bangalore City Corporation (BCC). But after reading it, you may want to change your mind on just how ‘useful’ the information is.

Info: Joint venture multi-level car parking-cum-commercial complexes in the city will be opened by June 2004.

Fact: The complexes are already open at on Magrath Road and another on K G Road.

Info: Rajajinagar grade separator will be opened by June 2004.

Fact: The work is still in progress.

This is how the information available on the BCC’s web page reads. While the link on the home page claims to lead you to the details of standing committees, a click on the hyper-link takes you nowhere.

The link on Council and Council Resolutions too leads to a no-information zone. Though the BCC Council resolutions are supposed to be available online, not much can be seen.

BCC Technical Advisor S Ramani told this website’s newspaper that a webmaster has been identified for the upkeep of the site, but BCC’s departments are lax in providing information.

‘‘While we have technical expertise on web mastering, the recent data on the operations of various departments have not been updated. Another reason is that while most of the departments are networked on the BCC intranet, some more departments need to be covered,’’ he said.

Interestingly, the Council section of BCC is not networked. This means that the citizens are denied their right to know the resolutions that their representatives pass in their meeting. Further, the details of the standing committees and their decisions are also not available.

BCC Commissioner K Jothiramalingam had recently said that Council meetings would be televised so that voters can witness the proceedings of the House. For a civic body that is yet to keep its information live, that seems to be a tall task.

‘‘I will be convening a meeting of heads of all departments this week. We will take steps to include all departments in the intranet so that data integration is made easier ’’, Jothiramalingam said.

The major drawback in putting Council resolutions on the webpage is undue delay in getting them approved by the Mayor’s office, he said.

‘‘Often, a resolution is approved by the mayor one month after it is passed by the council,’’ Jothiramalingam added.