BENGALURU: The city corporation of the IT capital is ironically not e-smart. It has decided to reboot its system and become hi-tech. Reason: To get more funds under the Smart City project from the central government, one has to be technologically smart. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has realised that it is lagging behind on the technology front, especially in its administration, uploading of data, and in being people-friendly. Realising it needs to be smart to get Smart City funds, it has decided to click-start technology awareness camps and bring in software professionals or tech graduates to do
their job.
“One of the criteria is how well connected a government body is with people and how much information is on the public domain. Going by the standards of Bengaluru, the information put on the public domain is very less. This has also raised questions on the transparency in departments. Hence, it has been decided to put as much information as possible on the public domain and give only online clearances. However, work is being done at a snail’s pace, especially in the town planning and engineering sections, where immediate connection with people is a must,” said a senior BBMP official.
The official said that it has also been understood that a lot of paper is being wasted in daily administration and file movement. Now to avoid it, the corporation is working towards shifting to e-paper to be ‘smart’. He said: “The problem is that 70% of the staff is used to working on the age-old method of paper and files and does not want to shift. This is the reason why one can see piles of files in every corner of the corporation.”
Mayor M Goutham Kumar had also said that they had hired professionals to handle the social media accounts of Mayor, Commissioner and many senior BBMP officials, to be in touch with citizens and post quick information.
Citizens, however, say that the BBMP has a long way to go. “They have the latest smart phones, but are unable to use technology. One example is the details of potholes, which BBMP claims is available online. However, it is so poorly organised. They have road, lane, by-lane and cross road data, which is difficult for people to comprehend,” said Siddharth, a Bengaluru-based techie.
Shalini L, another Bengalurean, said she finds it very difficult to update her property tax details as the software is not mobile-friendly. We are not able to access data on the desktops also, as we keep getting a message —service unavailable.”