BHUBANESWAR: In a move towards realising the Viksit Odisha @ 2036 vision, the state government has decided to undertake a comprehensive study to improve the quality, speed and effectiveness of work processes in frontline government offices that directly deliver services to citizens.
A high-level committee on Administrative and Governance Reforms has been constituted to monitor the exercise which is likely to be conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore.
The initiative is aimed at strengthening responsive, transparent, efficient and citizen-centric governance by easing systemic bottlenecks, reducing staff workload and enhancing service delivery outcomes at the cutting edge of administration.
The study will focus on re-imagining how field offices, particularly those citizens interact with, function on a day-to-day basis. The offices include collectorate, police stations, sub-registrar offices, regional transport offices (RTOs), block offices, tehsil offices and gram panchayat offices.
The General Administration and Public Grievance department has finalised a detailed terms of reference and sought inputs from Home, Revenue and Disaster Management, Commerce and Transport, and Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water departments which oversee most of the identified frontline offices. The study will be conducted to map the process flow for delivery of major citizen services, internal administrative processes and overall workload on officers, field visits, internal and external meetings, phone calls and daily interactions with the public.
The committee has also asked departments to suggest ways to make better use of technology, improve delegation of work, reduce duplication and excessive paperwork, and cut down avoidable workload while improving citizen experience. The departments have also been asked to flag bottlenecks, delays and pain points faced by citizens and propose strategies to ease them.
“The proposed study will involve on-site observation of one or two representative offices in each category over a week, enabling researchers to closely examine the movement of files and receipts, the movement of officers and staff within and outside offices and the flow of citizens seeking services or following up on their cases,” said a GA department official.
The TOR also mandates examination of employee productivity at different levels, including the number and nature of registers maintained, frequency of daily, weekly and monthly reports. Besides, time spent on non-core responsibilities such as court cases, official functions and other ancillary duties will also be analysed.
“The study will assess whether productivity can be enhanced through process re-engineering, technological interventions, reassignment of tasks or elimination of redundant activities. It would be completed in six months,” the official added.