Not many aware of BDA’s hi-tech kiosks

Not many aware of BDA’s hi-tech kiosks
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The e-pragathi kiosks seem to be far from ushering in any ‘pragathi’ - development. It has been two years since the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) installed them, but the public does not seem to be interested.

The BDA’s plans to provide information to people at their doorstep are still in their infancy, since it has not made any effort to provide information to people through this computerised facility. The first two kiosks, one opposite the BDA office and the other at HBR Layout, were installed by Tata Info Tech and Deginue, respectively, when M N Vidyashankar was the BDA Commissioner.

The present Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda admitted that the two kiosks were installed on a pilot basis, but not many people were aware of them.

“We have not operationalised them till date, as we want to install 25 more e-pragathi kiosks, interlink them and then popularise them in the first week of March. The delay is due to contractual hiccups, but I am trying to complete the project on time to provide better facilities to the people. After the kiosks are installed, there will be a familiarisation session, for the benefit of the people,” Gowda said.

Under the familiarisation session, the BDA will place an operator in the kiosk for about 45 days, who will educate people about the facility and its applications. Gowda also said that the kiosks will be updated with information from the website and can help guide customers in tax payment, how to acquire information on new layouts and site status, besides commercial benefits.

According to BDA sources, the kiosks are used by the public only on rare occasions, especially by those who purchased sites in Arkavathi Layout.

These kiosks will be very beneficial to the people once they are adequately publicised, but the work is being delayed due to problems with the contractors and delay in allocating tenders.