Kerala is poised to become the first state in the country to become fully digital through e-governance soon.
The government will also introduce a piece of legislation in the Assembly session this month to ensure Right to Services to the people.
People will also be able to track files in the Secretariat soon, through a system proposed to be introduced soon. Unveiling a slew of development and welfare-oriented initiatives on the occasion of the formal celebrations on the first anniversary of the UDF Government here on Monday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in the presence of his cabinet team, said that the state is all set to emerge as a truly investor-friendly state with emphasis on time-bound implementation of projects.
He said that people in the state will be provided with an e-Mail ID based on the UID Aadhar and all government-related applications and transactions of the public will be brought under the system.
Welfare pension and scholarships will also be linked with the Aadhar card and payments for beneficiaries will be through their bank accounts.
The system of delivering certificates through online from various offices, which has already been implemented in Palakkad and Kannur districts and which is underway in Kottayam and Malappuram districts, will be extended to all districts across the state.
The Chief Minister also announced that women, children, tribals, handicapped and senior citizens can file complaints with the police by dialling the number 100 and the police officials will reach the doorstep of the complainants to take necessary action.
If the complainant is an illiterate, the police will write the complaint and read it out before availing of the signature. Strong laws to protect the privacy of women, incorporating contemporary threats like misuse of cell phones, is on the anvil.
With the enactment to Right to Services, it will be made mandatory for officials to effect corrections in the date of birth as requested by an applicant in his or her SSLC book within 30 days.
If the application is related to foreign jobs, appointments, higher studies or court cases, the correction should be made within two days. By September 30 this year, mutation (pokkuvaravu) of land after registration process will be executed in village offices within two days from the date of application, he said. Survey adalats will be held in August across the state for rectifying complaints on anomalies.
The Chief Minister’s fellowships will be granted to 38 persons with the objective to promote fresh ideas for better results and transparency in governance. Experts from IIM -Kozhikode will coordinate this and those selected will be deployed at the offices of ministers, speaker , deputy speaker and district collectors.
Generic medicines will be issued free of cost for all patients who fall outside the ambit of Income Tax and who approach government hospitals. Old parents disowned by their children will be granted old age/widow pension. ‘Snehapoorvam’ will be launched to take care of an estimated 4500 children who have lost their parents and are finding it difficult to continue their studies. Farmers who had lost their crops in natural calamities will be provided compensations as per revised norms with retrospective effect from April, 2012. Title-deeds will be issued to 15,000 pre-1977 settlers soon and the remaining will be given later. The Chief Minister announced that there will not be any loadshedding or power cut for the next one year. The project for solar power generation through panels mounted in 10,000 houses in the state will be implemented in full steam and one-third of the total per house total cost of Rs 2.5 lakh will be granted as subsidy. Temporary house numbers will be given to all houses measuring less than 1,000 sq feet, wherever pending, on a war-footing.
To bring down the rising number of road mishaps, cameras will be installed at every 7 km in a 525-km high-traffic stretch in the state.
The Chief Minister said that dream projects including the Kochi Smart City and Metro Rail, monorail projects at Thiruvananthapuram amd Kozhikode and the Vizhinjam port project will be completed as scheduled.
Kerala is also likely to become the first state in the country to implement the ambitious Japan-aided bullet train project, costing Rs 1.2 lakh crore, he hoped.