Srinagar: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta Wednesday directed shifting some 178 public utility services to online mode by the middle of this month.
According to an official press release, during meeting with the concerned Administrative Secretaries to review the implementation of the Rapid Assessment System (RAS) in Jammu and Kashmir and the nature of feedback being received, Dr. Mehta was informed that a total of 178 online services of 23 departments are being taken up for integration with the Rapid Assessment System which provides a trigger-based digital reach-out to citizens seeking their feedback on the quality of services availed by them. Around 55 of such services have already been taken up for seeking public feedback.
Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Principal Secretary, General Administration Department, Commissioner/ Secretary, Revenue Department, Commissioner/ Secretary, Social Welfare Department, along with Administrative Secretaries of the departments of Information Technology Department, Planning Development and Monitoring Department, and Administrative Reforms Inspections and Trainings Department attended the meeting.
The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir ranks first amongst the UTs and second amongst States in the RAS integration of services, the press release said.
It said the initiative has so far sent approximately 3.30 lakh communications to the citizens over the past five months for evaluating their experience and quality of services availed through different government offices.
To further facilitate ease of service in various government offices, the Chief Secretary directed a complete switch-over of 178 services to online mode by 15th June, 2022. The IT Department was also asked to link all online services with respective timelines as prescribed under the Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA).
The Chief Secretary further directed the concerned departments to raise awareness among the general masses on digital services while extending required assistance to the service seeker.
‘This is a major impetus to the Digital Jammu & Kashmir programme aimed at providing end-to-end digitized services to all its citizens with an in-built feedback mechanism,” the press release said.
Reviewing the range of services integrated with the RAS so far, Dr. Mehta also directed introduction of the IVRS mechanism in addition to the existing SMS-based feedback facility for reaching out to the maximum number of service receivers.
Moreover, it was observed that in response to the 3.30 lakh reach-outs through RAS, a marginal 10,675 feedbacks were received.
Referring to the feedback as a pillar of support in participatory governance, Dr. Mehta appealed to the public to enthusiastically participate by sharing their feedback on wide-range of departmental services. “This will allow the government to assess public expectations and identify areas requiring further improvements,” he added.
It was informed that the ‘Domicile Certificate’ service of the Revenue department has received the maximum feedback/response with 78 percent of users rating the quality of service delivery as “Good”. Moreover, 92 percent of applicants for ‘Marriage Certificate’ through the Revenue department also voted their experience as “Good”.
Similarly, 82 percent of citizens who availed ‘Post-Metric Scholarship for Pahari speaking people’, 69 percent respondents for ‘IGNOAPS’ and 57 percent for ‘ISSS’ of Social Welfare department rated the service as “Good”, whereas, 76 percent of the responses received for ‘Age Certificate’ and ‘Fitness Certificate’, 67 percent for ‘Physically Challenged Certificate’ services from the Health and Medical Education department rated the services as “Satisfactory”.
The services for issuing Birth & Death Certificates provided by H&UD department and Customized Livelihood Scheme of Mission Youth also received positive citizen feedback, the release informed.
However, services like Social Welfare department’s Post Matric Scholarship for SC/OBC/EBC/DNT and Pension for victims of militancy; Fisheries department’s Permission for Fishing; and Revenue department’s Issuance of SC/ST Certificates revealed poor experience by the service seekers.
Reviewing the negative feedback on certain services, the Chief Secretary directed the departments to ascertain the cause of public dissatisfaction and immediately take remedial action, besides introducing innovative measures to enhance public approvals.
He enjoined upon the concerned officers to undertake regular analysis of the quality of services being provided through RAS and take timely corrective interventions to raise public satisfaction with regard to their services.
