1. technology and computing
2. consumer electronics
3. telephones
4. mobile phones

- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Vol. 9 | No.1
January, 2012
Introduc
ction
E-Govern
nance in RMC
R
Why M-G
Governance
M-Goverrnance Serrvices
Best
Practices
s
M-Goverrnance
in
Benefits
Impact
Usage
Achievem
ments
Co
ourtesy By
The Co
ommissione
er
R
Rajkot
Muniicipal Corp
poration
R
Rajkot
Editorial Team
R
Rajkot
is on
ne of the fa
astest developing citiess located in
the ce
enter of Sau
urashtra reg
gion of Gujarat State situated
s
on
western part of In
ndia. The citty has geogrraphical are
ea of 104.86
on plus (Cen
nsus, 2001).
sq.kms and has a population of one millio
ed councilorrs headed by
b the Mayyor and Com
mmissioner;
Electe
nominated by Governance,
G
handle ad
dministratio
on of city.
m
cities
Rajkott is divided into 23 wards, and is among four major
of Gujjarat state.
Rajk
kot Municip
pal Corporattion (RMC) is local Government
G
committed to pro
ovide basic infrastructu
ure facilitie
es including
he people of
o the city. RMC
R
is very
enterttainment faccilities to th
well known
k
for managing the
t
city byy using privvate sector
participation as well
w
as intro
oduction of innovative mechanism
nagement to serve peo
ople efficien
ntly. City ha
as prepared
in man
differe
ent plans for improviing servicess and to nullify gap
betwe
een services and demand
ds.
Rajkot is a cityy which keep
ps pace with
h time and technology.
t
kot Municipal Corporattion started
The computerizattion in Rajk
long back
b
in 1989
9, and has co
ompleted more
m
than a decade and
half, and in true
e sense Com
mputerizatio
on in RMC is
i boon for
n of Rajkot.
citizen
Rajjkot Municip
pal Corporattion always tries
t
to keep
p pace with
time and techno
ology. Afte
er successfu
ul impleme
entation of
e-Gove
ernance prroject we have deccided to go
g
for mGovernance.
Dr. Neeta
N
Shah
Ms. Monali
M
Shah
h
P
Page
1 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
e-G
Governan
nce in Ra
ajkot Mu
unicipal Corporat
C
ion:
RMC
C’s approac
ch towards computeriza
c
ation is diviided into tw
wo parts
1. Citize
en centric Services
S
2. Back Office man
nagement
RMC
C gave equa
al importancce to both. This helpe
ed RMC for giving bette
er municipa
al services. Almost 80%
pub
blic related services and back officce services (which help
p in strengtthening of administrativ
a
ve process)
werre compute
erized so fa
ar. Citizens are perce
eived as the
e most imp
portant stak
keholder off municipal
adm
ministration.. RMC propo
ose to give round
r
the clock service
e with intera
active web portal, aimiing towards
com
mplete e-Govverned Muniicipal Corpo
oration.
Rajkot Municip
pal Corporattion provide
es e-Governa
ance service
es from tecchnically posssible all arreas. Entire
e-G
Governance project
p
is designed, de
eveloped and
d implemented by In-ho
ouse team of
o IT expertts of Rajkot
Mun
nicipal Corpo
oration. Und
der e-Governance proje
ect services are
a provided
d through
1) City Civic Centres
C
-
Prop
perty Tax Co
ollection
Water Charges Collection
C
New
w Water Conn
nection
Online building Permission (Zonal Officce City Civic Center)
h and Death Registration and Certifficate issuan
nce
Birth
Misccellaneous Tax Collectio
on (Account Deposit and
d Other Feess)
Proffession Tax
Awa
as Yojna EMI Collection
Prop
perty Name Change
Obje
ection petitiion for property
Thea
atre Tax, Ve
ehicle Tax
Drainage Tax Co
ollection
2) Website
-
Paym
ment of Prop
perty Tax/W
Water Charge
es through Credit
C
Card/
/Debit Card
Prop
perty Tax De
emand Bill and
a Paymentt History (La
ast 6 years)
Water Charges Demand
D
Bill and Payment History (L
Last 6 years)
Proffession Tax Demand
D
Bill and Paymen
nt History (L
Last 2 years)
Birth
h and Death Certificate (1999 onwa
ards)
Nam
mawali (suggestive name
es of new bo
orn baby on moon sign and
a alphabett)
Citizzen Forum (G
Gujarati and
d English)
Acco
ount Bill Sta
atus for vend
dor and conttractors
RTI status
s
Com
mplain registration and its status
P
Page
2 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
3) Call Centerr
ment
Departm
Types off Complains
Lighting
4
Solid Wa
aste Manage
ement
17
Civil Work
5
Conserva
ancy
2
T. P. Dep
partment
8
Tax Department
2
Health Department
D
12
Wonkla Safai
S
2
Drainage
e General
3
Other De
epts.
1
Hand Pump
1
Garden
3
Estate
2
Zoo Department
1
Drainage
e Maintenan
nce
4
Water Su
upply
8
Total
75
4) Post office
- Prop
perty Tax Co
ollection
- Water Charge Collection
- Awa
as Yojana (Ho
ousing Scheme for poorr) EMI Collecction
- Proffession Tax Collection
C
(V
Very soon)
P
Page
3 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Inn
novative Initiativ
ves by Ra
ajkot Mun
nicipal Corporation
RMC
C has taken number of Innovative Initiatives to serve
e citizens in
i a fasterr, efficient, effective,
tran
nsparent ma
anner. All th
hese initiativves are trulyy online-reall time.
M-Governa
ance in Rajkot
R
Mu
unicipal Corporat
C
tion:
y M-Governance?
Why
The
e basic and
d universal corner sto
ones of goo
od governan
nce are qu
uality of se
ervice, quicck response
mecchanisms an
nd above all
a accounta
able and transparent process
p
mecchanism. Th
he first gen
neration egovvernance initiatives resulted in computerization of the legacy
l
syste
ems/practice
es in Goverrnance with
limiited ability to internallize the advvances in information and commu
unication te
echnologies (ICT). The
para
adigm shift from e-governance to
o M-Governance (which
h leveragess the conve
ergence of mobile
m
and
com
mmunication
n technologies) results in
i radical diifferences in
n the key processes of creating, maintenance
m
and
d usage of knowledge,
k
creation of secure mob
bile transaction & delivvery system, establishm
ment of the
app
propriate inffrastructurall support forr multi-mode direct citizen interfacce and delivvery mechanisms.
M-G
Governance can usher in
n approach to
t delivery of
o Governan
nce services to the doorrstep of the citizens. In
the context of urban local bodies, th
he use of ad
dvanced tools such as the
t
ICT and Mobile Technology for
info
ormation sharing enable
es the service providers to increm
mentally add services quite
q
easilyy. The wide
spre
ead usage of
o mobile te
echnology and
a
easy to understand
d text messa
ages has en
nabled us to
o lower the
barriers to accceptance off these services. The m-Governan
nce in urba
an local bo
odies is replicable and
cap
ptures the required
r
skill levels through the technology
t
to deliver quick
q
and quality
q
services at the
doo
orsteps of th
he citizens by minimizing the transa
action costs.
P
Page
4 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Afte
er successfu
ully implem
menting e-Go
overnance in
i almost all
a service areas,
a
RMC had conce
entrated on
reducing the delay
d
to get property ta
ax and wate
er charges related info
ormation. Fo
ollowing two
o dilemmas
ke RMC to move
m
toward
ds M-Governa
ance :
mak
-
All the information related to
t propertyy tax, wate
er charges, profession tax, birth and death
registration, RTI is now on we
ebsite www.rmc.gov.in. But rough
hly 10% peop
ple in Rajko
ot are using
internett, then whatt to do for re
emaining 90
0%.
-
Earlier people used
d to stay in queue for 1-2 hours to
o get the property
p
tax details and
d then they
other queue
e for paymen
nt of properrty tax. To pay
p municipa
al dues was in that way
have to stand in ano
the toug
ghest job fo
or any citize
en. This also
o resulted in
n low recove
ery of prope
erty tax. 18%
% interest is
charged
d on pending
g dues of property tax/water charrges by the municipal corporation and hence
every da
ay the total due is diffe
erent. So eacch day afterr wasting 1-2
2 hours, if working
w
hours of RMC is
over tha
an citizen ha
as to stand in
i the queue
e next day ju
ust to know pending dues.
Now
w a days allmost all families are having mob
bile phone for
f commun
nication. RM
MC had deciided to use
mob
bile technollogy and ICT
T as tool to solve the above proble
ems. RMC ha
as implemen
nted m-Gove
ernance for
the effective se
ervices. The
e project wa
as started wiith the aim of providing
g information immediate
ely by using
mob
bile servicess. The span of the proje
ect is expand
ded to almost all the se
ervices of Mu
unicipal Corp
poration
M-G
Governance at RMC is Convenient
C
Communica
ation Point for
f Time Bo
ound Service
e Delivery powered
p
by
pre-defined prrocess-cycless and Back--office Com
mputerization
n. To meett the Expecctation of Citizens
C
the
i acting as a major tool for immed
diate and tra
ansparent se
ervice. RMC has started
proccess of m-Governance is
diffferent m-Governance se
ervices, to provide efficient, timelyy information
n to Citizenss of Rajkot.
The
e main featu
ure of M-Go
overnance project
p
at RM
MC is
-
Truly on
nline operations, no battch mode op
peration
Effectivve back officce integratio
on of all citizzen centric services
Centraliized Server Architecture
A
e
m-Governance is ba
acked by efffective imple
ementation of e-Govern
nance
Servvices are pro
ovided unde
er M-Governa
ance:
P
Page
5 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
How
w to Access M-Governa
ance Service
es
Be
est Practiices in M-Govern
M
ance
1. Vaccination
V
Alerts
Rajkot Municipal Corporatiion has started vaccination alerts to
t all registe
ered births from 20/10/2009. This
omatically send
s
alerts based on National Imm
munization Scheme
S
and
servvice is very fruitful as system auto
birtth date of child.
c
This service wa
as launched during Gujarat Govern
nment’s Niro
ogi Bal Varssh (Healthy
Chilld Year). RM
MC send SMS to all reg
gistered pare
ents having child from age of 7 days to 16 years
y
as per
Nattional Immun
nization Scheme. So farr more than 55000 alert SMSs alread
dy sent. The imp
pact of this servvice has been endorseed by leading h
hospitals and pediattricians, as perr their observation occurrence of Vaccine Preventable Diseases has b
become p
past and drop out ratio of va
accination uously decreassing. is continu
P
Page
6 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
2. 24x7
2
Call Ce
enter
Rajkot Municipa
al Corporation’s 24x7 Call Center iss running on
n SMS. In the
e Call Centerr, complain can be
regiistered by Phone,
P
SMS and
a Website.
All municipal servicces are covered under Call
C Center, more than 75
7 different types of complains are
accepted at Ca
all Center for as many as 18 depa
artments. As
A soon as complain
c
is registered system will
search right offficer for the registered
d complain and will sen
nd detail SM
MS to the offficer and complainant
c
willl receive me
essage menttioning his complain
c
no
o. In additio
on to that co
omplain status can be changed by
SMSS only. Once
e registered, there won
n’t be any ch
hange by Ca
all Center operator. If there is anyy change in
com
mplain statu
us system will
w generate
e alert SMS and send itt to compla
ainant. Com
mplainant ca
an know his
com
mplain statuss by SMS or by Website.
There numb
ber of facilitties by whicch officer ca
an know pen
nding complain on his name,
n
his subordinate’s
me, etc. A complete
c
MIIS for Call Center
C
is avvailable on every
e
office
er’s desk by RMC’s intra
anet. Every
nam
nigh
ht at 9.00 PM
M higher offficers receivve Call Cente
er statistics SMS.
Earlier RM
MC used to run more than 10 complain
c
ce
enters, for different services like, water,
ainage, solid waste ma
anagement, electric pole.
p
The service
s
wass not 24x7, not outsou
urced, and
dra
tota
al expendiiture for registering
r
complains was Rs. 96.00
9
Lacss. But with
h Call Centter totally
outtsourced, th
he expenditture is mere
ely Rs. 8.0 Lacs.
L
M-Governa
ance Benefits
Ben
nefit to Citiz
zens
Information is just SMS
S away
Equal qu
uality of service regard
dless of socia
al or econom
mic status
Cheapesst transactio
on cost (as lo
ow as 1 paisse)
TRIQEE Administrattion
Access time
t
for serrvice is redu
uced
Interacttion become
es more resu
ult oriented
Eliminattion of midd
dlemen for service
Ben
nefit to RMC
C
Increase
e in revenue
e
Effectivve Integratio
on of Back office
o
and Ciitizen Centric Services
Grievance managem
ment become more efficcient
Reduction in operatting cost
Reduction in direcct interactio
on with cittizen resultiing into lessser grievan
nces and In
ncrease in
transparrency
Citizen become more loyal to RMC
R
Human Errors avoid
ded due to Fully
F
automa
ated processs
National Immunizattion program
mme is now more
m
effecttive
Direct communicati
c
ion reduces the responsse time of the Officers responsible for the speccific work
Officerss become mo
ore productiive due to le
esser public interaction
Reduction in paper usage
P
Page
7 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Impact of the
t Proje
ect
Thiss project ha
as produced
d massive visible impacct on the performance
p
e of e-Goverrnance delivvery to the
citizzen of Rajk
kot. It also has
h a huge impact of overall
o
perfo
ormance and motivatio
on to the em
mployees of
RMC
C. Below tab
ble shows so
ome facts about
a
before
e and after e-Governance project implement
i
s
situation
of
deliivery of e-Governance services
s
to citizen
c
of Ra
ajkot.
Before
B
With M-Go
overnance
To know
k
municip
pal dues citize
en need to sta
and in long queue
Just one SM
MS and imm
mediately infformation on
n
mobile
Diffe
erent Compla
ain centers for
f each type
e of complain
ns, citizen
need
d to remembe
er different phone
p
no for different servvice
24 X 7 call ce
enter, all com
mplain registration at one
e
place, citizen
n to remembe
er only one phone
p
no
Regiistration of complain
c
man
nual, overhea
ad of running
g different
complain centerss
Only one cen
nter, fully com
mputerized
Not 24x7 service
24x7 service
e
Moniitoring of serrvice not posssible
Every week
k monitoring
g, details available
a
on
n
intranet, 90% complain
ns are solved within 72
2
hours
No mechanism
m
to
o know about registration of Birth/Deatth
SMS is sent to parents/relative for Biirth or Death
h
registration
Tax payer get transaction
n informatio
on in their property
tax/
/water charge
es only by visiting the RMC
C office
As any transsaction occurrs in propertyy tax / waterr
charges acccount ownerr gets transsaction alertt
SMS.
Proffessional tax
x payer get transaction information
n only by
visitting RMC officce
Professionall tax payer get
g transaction alert SMSS
as any transsaction occurss.
Tran
nsparency is very imporrtant while making anyy kind of
paym
ment. Afterr paying prroperty tax /water ch
harges or
proffessional tax people do not get any in
nformation iff someone
canccel that transsaction.
Alert SMS se
end to property tax /wate
er charges orr
professionall tax payers iff receipt is ca
ancelled
No details
d
of dailly income/expenditure to higher officia
als
Every day higher
h
officia
als receive SMS
S
for dailyy
income/exp
penditure
No details
d
of com
mplains to hig
gher officials
Every day higher
h
officia
als receive SMS
S
for daily
solved/registered compllains
No Details
D
for Ch
heque Return
As soon as cheque return party is immediately
alerted by SMS
S
P
Page
8 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Usage of M-Govern
M
ance
Srr
Departmen
nt
Servicess for
Beneficia
aries
Alert Services
1
Propertty Tax
T
Transaction
a
alert
through SMS
36211
R
Receipt
Cancellation Alertt
793
C
Cheque
Returrn Alert
77
N
Name
Transfe
er Alert
2259
2
Professiional Tax
T
Transaction
a
alert
through SMS
16608
8
3
Birth Re
egistration
B
Birth
registra
ation details through
t
SMS
34561
V
Vaccination
a
alert
through SMS
156331
1
4
Death Registration
R
D
Death
Registrration details through SMSS
14210
0
5
Awas Yo
ojna Installme
ent
I
Installment
trransaction ale
ert through SMS
S
33381
7
FAS
Account Pa
A
ayment
C
Contractors
SMSS
to
Vend
dors
and
Total
3847
298278
8
Payment Reminder Service
1
Propertty Tax
P
Payment
Rem
minder Service
e
91,840
0
Interacttive Service
1
Propertty Tax
P
Property
Tax outstanding dues through
h SMS
P
Property
Tax Name change
e details thro
ough SMS
25636
6
R
Registration
o mobile no for transactio
of
on alert
687
134
P
Property
Tax Assessment Request
R
throu
ugh SMS
32
2
Water Charges
C
W
Water
Charge
es outstanding
g dues throug
gh SMS
1397
3
Generall
D
Details
of RMC Services
12738
8
P
Page
9 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
CS LTD.
Managem
ment Servicess
1
Generall
D
Daily
Income--Expenditure SMS to highe
er officers
5483
2
Generall
D
Daily
Grievan
nce Statistics to Higher Offficers
7164
3
Call Cen
nter
R
Running
of Ca
all Center thrrough SMS
4
CUG SM
MS
G
Group
SMS for RMC’s officials
689457
7
34
Total
702138
8
Ac
chieveme
ents:
pal Corporattion had rec
ceived the following
f
Aw
wards:
Rajkot Municip
Man
nthan Award
d 2011
Rajkot Mu
unicipal Corp
poration had
d
won Ma
anthan Awarrd 2011 in
eGovvernance Ca
ategory
Nagarr Ratna Aw
ward 2011 (A
AIILSG)
Rajko
ot Municipal Corporatio
on had
won Nagar Ratna Award 201
11 for
Com
mplaint & Redressal Sysstem
Pa
age 10 of 12
- An
n e-Governan
nce Bulletin fro
om GUJARAT
T INFORMATIC
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S
Skoch
Digita
al Inclusion Award 2011
Rajkot Mun
nicipal Corpo
oration had
d
won Skoch Digital
w
D
Inclussion Award in
i
Value Add
ded Servicess category
EDGE Awarrd 2011
Rajkot Municipal Corporation
C
had
w EDGE Aw
won
ward 2011
14th Natio
onal eGoverna
ance
mBillio
onth South Asia
a Award
eINDIA 20
010 Awards
Award
2011
Rajkot Municiipal Corporatio
on
had won eINDIIA 2011 Award in
EGOV- mGove
ernance-Citizen
Choice Category
Rajkot Mun
nicipal Corpora
ation
Rajkot Municipal Corrporation
had won eB
Bronze Icon Aw
ward in
h won Award
had
d in
Innovative Use
U of Technollogy in
M-g
governance Cattegory e-Goverrnance Category
Pa
age 11 of 12
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nce Bulletin fro
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