B One to open 20 new centres shortly

B One to open 20 new centres shortly
Tuesday February 5 2008 09:01 IST

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BANGALORE: Bangalore One, the integrated citizen service centre, is expected to open 20 more centres in the next two weeks in the city limits. The new centres will be smaller than the usual Bangalore One centres which has 8-10 counters.

Announcing this at the inauguration of the Indiranagar B One centre at the BDA complex, Principal Secretary, E-governance, IT and BT M N Vidyashankar said that work was almost complete at the 20 centres and even though they would house 3-4 counters, it would offer the entire bouquet of services available at present in the other centres.

The e-pragathi kiosks were originally constructed by BDA for implementation of its own citizen services, but was abandoned and later handed over to Bangalore One for their use.

The Department of E-governance also identified 40 places in the erstwhile TMC and CMC areas to open more centres and is in the process of acquiring land for the purpose. “Space is a big issue.

Our response time is only three weeks for putting the system in place. But acquiring land takes long, so it is difficult to set a time frame.”

Vidyashankar also said that they will be introducing the booking of KSRTC tickets and that they are negotiating with LIC and Provident Fund Commissioner to make these services available as well.

Private bus ticketing and booking of movie tickets are two services that have been introduced recently. 2 new centres have been opened in Hubli and Dharwad this week and 4 more are expected to be opened shortly in the twin cities.

The Department is looking at opening more centres at Mangalore, Mysore and Belgaum. Inaugurating the Centre, former chief secretary Theresa Bhattacharya said that greater automation and delivery processes had ensured a greater level of transparency, while minimising the human interface and subsequently lessening the harassment as well.

Former chief secretary B K Bhattacharya and Bangalore One Assistant Director Shashidhar Sarangmath were also present on the occasion.