VIJAYAWADA: Soon, citizens will no longer need to physically carry any of their documents. Instead, all their documents will be digitally available on their mobile phones, said Bhaskar Katamneni, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications Department (ITE&C) and Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) Secretary.
A review meeting was held on Friday at the Secretariat regarding the data integration process across various government departments. During the meeting, the RTGS secretary stated that, at present, there is no centralised data system within the government. Although there is data with respective departments, it is yet to be integrated. This technical barrier is hampering the efficient delivery of government services to citizens, he observed.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, envisions that citizens should no longer need to visit government offices, instead, they should be able to access all the services they need via their mobile phones. In alignment with this vision, the RTGS is establishing a large data lake to integrate data from all departments of the State government. This initiative will help provide more efficient digital services to citizens.
As part of the WhatsApp Governance, citizens will be able to download a wide array of certificates, including academic, caste, income, birth, and death certificates, without needing to visit any office. Additionally, citizens will be able to file complaints and raise their grievances through WhatsApp.
At present, the WhatsApp Governance is being provided to citizens in both Telugu and English. In near future, we will expand this service to include regional languages such as Kannada, Odiya, and Tamil to make it more accessible to a broader group of citizens across districts, he said.
Bhaskar urged every department to appoint a Chief Data Technical Officer (CDTO). He instructed officials to identify and designate someone as CDTO within two days. Additionally, he emphasised that the process of sharing data across departments through the RTGS data lake should be completed within a week.
RTGS CEO K Dinesh Kumar, Deputy CEO Madhuri, Special Chief Secretary (Civil Supplies) Saurabh Gaur, and Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Veerapandian, among other officials were present at the review meeting.