Very soon, Maharashtra will be among the five top states in India that provide maximum services online to its citizens. Preparations for the ambitious programme are currently underway by the Maha IT Company, a state government initiative. This is in addition to the 7-point target given to divisional and district-level machinery by the BJP-led Mahayuti government.

Maharashtra currently provides 485 services online and occupies the number 8 position among the other state governments that provide online services to citizens. The states like Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are way ahead of Maharashtra on this front. It was revealed during a recent meeting chaired by the new Minister for Information Technology Minister Ashish Shelar.

The J&K provides 1,000 services online, the meeting was informed. Taking a serious view, the minister asked the officials to speed up the project to add another 285 services to the current pool of Maharashtra. The state is also working on the state-owned cloud as recommended by the central government for data security.

Another public-friendly exercise undertaken by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led General Administration Department (GAD) is a 7-point programme given to the field offices of the state government. It includes the six divisional commissioners, 36 district collectors, 27 municipal commissioners, special inspector generals of police, district police chiefs and chief executive officers of the zilla parishads.

While issuing the orders on Monday, Sujata Saunik, the state chief secretary has chalked out a 100-day programme for the officers that includes updating the websites of the respective offices, the introduction of the ease of living under which at least two services to be made available promptly, cleanliness of the government offices, effective mechanism for grievance redressal, amenities at workplace, investment promotion and field visits by the officers.

An important feature of the updated websites will be the disclosure of information mandated under the RTI Act, 2005. Among the cleanliness measures is the disposal of old documents and files accumulated in offices, as well as the removal of vehicles rotting on the premises. Additionally, the grievance redressal initiative will include the revival of Lokshahi Din, which was discontinued over the past five years.