The Local Government Minister, Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu here today presided over 2 brain storming meetings with representatives of 24 companies focusing on technical and financial audit of all local bodies and e-Governance project of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) at Local Bodies Bhawan. He said that the project has been initiated on the directions of the Chief Minister, Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh who has already accorded approval for the same. Among others present on the occasion included Advisor of the department Dr. Amar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary of the department Mr. Satish Chandra, Secretary Mr. J.M. Balamurgan , Director Mr. K.K. Yadav and General Manager Project Mr. V.P. Singh
Batting for providing top notch e-Governance solutions to mitigate the problems of the urban population, the Minister said that during past several years the concept of e-Governance existed in name only and the situation came to such a sorry pass that things didn’t move beyond the Request For Proposal (RFP) 4 times and twice it came to pass that these were not invited at all.
He also divulged that all this could be attributed to the lack of will of the previous dispensation to work diligently for public interests leading to people being forced to run from pillar to post for availing services of basic nature i.e.-getting approval for maps, procuring birth & death certificates, and permission for construction purposes.Vowing to not let down the aspirations of the people and ensure transparency in implementing the e-Governance initiatives in the state, the Minister disclosed that the e-Governance project would be implemented phase wise across the state and during the 1st phase, 5 ULBs would be brought under the ambit of the project which would be subject to financial and technical audit. The Minister divulged that the reason behind the audit is to not only bring discrepancies to the fore but also put in place such checks as are necessary to put a stop to these.Elaborating further, he said that it would be mandatory for the project to be executed within a given time frame. He also said that neither would the quality be compromised in executing the project nor would the funds be any problem in going all out to accomplish the project successfully.He also said that a special cell is functioning in the Local Government department exclusively catering to the every aspect of e-Governance enterprise.
He also invited further suggestions/views from the companies at the e-mail id [email protected] more, Mr. Sidhu said that a uniform policy would be implemented across the state in this connection and also there would be no discrimination or favoritism towards anybody. He further detailed that the main purpose of inviting top companies before RFP was to have a fruitful discussion on the subject. He also made it crystal clear that he would not brook any compromise with the standards and those working honestly would be encouraged.The representatives of the companies laid bare the difficulties they had to encounter during the previous period and also listed some of the potential futuristic problems on which the minister ordered the departmental officials to keep these in mind. He also informed that next week a meeting would again be held with the companies. He also made it known that once the project commences, he would not brook any delay.