Jammu: Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta today commended the role of the IT department in adding 15 more services to the eUnnat portal and reaching the tally of 1102 online services and integration of 500 services on Rapid Assessment System (RAS) portal offered by different departments in the UT, an official press release informed.
It said Dr Mehta called these achievements “quite extraordinary with no parallel”. He said that these have changed the governance system of the UT forever and “brought the public offices right into the hands of people”. He maintained that nothing is more empowering than transferring the power into the hands of people through use of IT tools.
He observed that a “couple of years back, nobody could have imagined where we are today”. He said that it is sheer commitment on part of the ‘Team J&K’ that has made these Herculean tasks a reality for all of us.
He stated that wherever he goes people are all praise for the relief the online services had brought to them. He added that these IT tools have removed distance barriers and have essentially eradicated the idea of remoteness from our lexicon. Staying connected is the new mantra.
During this meeting, the Chief Secretary also reviewed the progress made towards the development of ‘One UT One Database’ initiative and Byakti Pehchan for “proactive governance”. He made a detailed assessment of the steps to be taken for launch of the initiative for delivery of government services without the need for submitting multiple documents.
He instructed that all the existing databases available with the government departments in the shape of Aadhar, Ration Cards, Gold Cards, Land passbooks, pensions by social welfare, , Power/Water/Gas connections besides Anganwadi and school registrations should be integrated so that they are accessible and form one database.
He emphasized that by linking databases, a complete database can be built in a matter of a few months only. He advised the IT Department to coordinate with GAD for designating an authority to oversee this process for taking it to a logical conclusion.
Earlier on the Chief Secretary felicitated all the winners of the UT Foundation Day competitions. He praised them for the exceptional effort depicted in their entries. He asked them to use these awards as a stepping stone to reach higher goals and pursue their dreams wholeheartedly.
On the occasion, the Commissioner Secretary, IT, Prerna Puri informed the gathering that besides the certificates, the first three winners are going to be given cash prizes of Rs 10000, Rs 8000 and Rs 5000 in each category of Painting, Videography, Photography, Essay writing and Poetry besides a Consolation prize of Rs 3500 to the person at 4th position.
It was informed that the shortlisting was done based on merit and originality. Further large number of people have participated in these events receiving more than 6000 photos in the Photography competition. The Hackathon Challenge on cyber security was won by a student of Computer Engineering at SMVDU named Subhag Sharma and was awarded an amount of Rs 25000 for it.
Those who won awards in Videography Competition include Madhav Gupta (Sunderbani), Versha Verma (Jammu), Naseer Ahmad (Ramban). In Painting the names are Aarav Bhat (Jammu), Nupur Dogra (Katra), Dr Ibtisam Buch (Srinagar) and Aabhas Sharma. Sonika Devi (Doda), Aryan Khajuria (Udhampur), Girija Gupta (Sunderbani), Zaida Kousar (Jammu) and Seerat Nabi won the prizes in Essay Competition. Similarly, Uzma Fayaz (Awantipora) and Peehu Rajput (Jammu) won the prizes in Poetry. In the Photography competition Muzaffar Wani (Ganderbal), Tehmeena Rasool, Gul Reyaz Khan, Tahir Rashid and Zubair Ahmad Sheikh won the prizes.
CEO, JaKeGA; SIO, and other concerned officers, the ceremony was attended by the winners and their parents either in person or virtually through video conferencing.
