Rural Development Department to be computarised in HP

Shimla, Nov 4 (UNI) An action plan for total computerisation of the Himachal Pradesh Rural Development Department has been finalised, Information Technology Secretary B K Aggarwal said here today.

Addressing a meeting in this regard Mr Aggarwal stated that all the 76 Development Blocks and 3,243 Gram Panchayats of Himachal Pradesh would be computerised soon.

The Block Management Information System (MIS), a computerised solution developed by the NIC for maintenance of accounts and monitoring of construction works will be implemented in all the 76 blocks.

The system works on double entry system of accounting and generates all mandatory reports on a click of mouse. The financial transactions are captured directly from the vouchers and linked with development works being executed through Panchayats.

He said that video conferencing facility would also be created in each block with total expenditure of about Rs 4 crore and added that this facility would be used for providing training to functionaries at block level about various schemes of Rural Development.

It will also be used by the farmers for taking advice from the experts of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries departments and added that the network will be extended to the Agriculture and Horticulture Universities also.

Dr Shrikant Baldi, Secretary, Rural Development informed that to bring transparency in the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, all the information like name of the works, money spent, names of the workers etc will be provided on the internet.

MIS Software called 'Swaraj' will be implemented in at least 100 panchayats on pilot basis in the first phase and afterwards it will be rolled out in all the 3243 panchayats in the state. It is a comprehensive software which covers almost all the functions of panchayat like birth and death registration, maintenance of pariwar register, village baseline information, construction works management etc.

Officers of BSNL, Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration, Agriculture, IT, RD departments and National Informatics Centre were present in the meeting.

UNI XC PS JS1852