Stale news on Government websites

Stale news on Government websites
Vijay Times

BE warned. If you are someone who believes in e-governance, these details can startle you.

Yes, this is what their websites say. But, do not go by these details, for now, Hassan Annegowda Ranganath is the Vice-Chancellor of the Bangalore University. He assumed charge a few days after M S Thimmappa retired on March 14, 2006.

Ashok Kumar C Manoli received his transfer letter in the second week of March and N C Muniyappa assumed charge on March 15, 2006.

The new casualty block at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital was inaugurated by none other than the Chief Minister himself on June 13, 2006.

Another BMP Budget has been presented after the one presented by Gunashekaran. The BMPs Budget for the year 2006-07 was presented in the month of April by Lalitha Srinivas Gowda.

These arent the only sites that havent been updated. The Karnataka State Police Department also has its own website where one can find a lot of information including the crime statistics list. But sadly, the last time this list was updated was in Feb, 2006, a good four months back.

The concept of e-governance has taken a beating in this State as various government departments that launched their department websites with much fanfare years back have shown no interest in updating them.

NOT SO FRIENDLY

Almost all government departments have their own websites, which according to them, are well-designed and customer-friendly. The departments have been claiming that the common man can avail their services at the click of a button.

However, unfortunately, people who visit these sites end up getting the same old details every time they log in.

A majority of the websites are not customer-friendly and surfers have to often struggle to get information or lodge a complaint.

“These websites ignore the customers point of view and fail to provide the latest information to the public," says a government official from the Secretariat Department.

The common public, especially non-Kannadigas, who log in to these sites to gather information are, for all practical reasons, doomed for often, it is only the date on the web pages that is updated.

NO PROPER LINKS

"I was generally looking for some details about BMP and so logged on to their website to find them. I browsed for almost 25 to 30 minutes but I was not able to find the information I was looking for. For finding out one small detail, I had to browse for almost half-an-hour," laments Shri Harish, a retired government employee.

"The home page of these websites should specifically mention the information available in a very brief form in the form of links," says Krupali, a student working on a dissertation on civic issues of the City.

"If one cannot find the latest information on these websites and one is compelled to go personally to the departments to collect details, then what is the use of having these websites," is what several users ask.

Do the authorities have an answer?