BANGALORE, may 9: The State government’s ambitious M-gov or Mobile Governance project has just graduated from its three-city pilot stage.
Offering an array of public utility services right on your mobile phone screen, the service will see a State-wide launch by June 15. Paying your BESCOM or BWSSB bill, or that taxing traffic penalty can’t get any simpler.
The BangaloreOne and KarnatakaOne portals already offer a hundred services at a mouse-click. M-Gov will offer all those services and more using the mobile platform.
The tender process has already started and the service provider selected.
“We are just waiting for the Cabinet clearance once the new government takes office,” a top e-governance department official told Deccan Herald.
Once launched, as many as 200 services will go live in the first stage. “The entire governance will be on your fingertips, anywhere, anytime,” quipped the official.
More State departments would be added depending on their readiness to adopt the technology. So, once the Transport Department comes on board, booking a bus ticket, checking the frequency and location of the bus, or even getting a learner’s licence would get a lot less cumbersome.
Bill payment option
For now, the users might find the bill payment option the most friendly. While Axis Bank and ICICI Bank are likely to be the project’s payment gateways in the initial phase, more banks are expected to become partners in the due course.
The department has also proposed to take the M-gov route to offer updates on tender notifications to bidders in the e-procurement process. “Currently, they are being sent emails. Once the mobile platform is ready, we can alert them even on technical evaluation of tenders,” informed the official.
Another important service under consideration for government employees is mobile alerts related to salaries.
“Only about two lakh out of the 5.5 lakh State government employees have bank accounts. This feature will greatly benefit them.”
With prices of smartphones falling and tablets getting more affordable, accessibility of portals linked to public services is expected to grow exponentially. M-gov is widely seen as a smart move to capitalise on this synergy between technology and services.
Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar had on January 10 launched the first phase of Mobile Governance on a pilot basis in Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore. Select services under BangaloreOne, KarnatakaOne, Bangalore Traffic, Mysore Intelligent Transport System and Sakaala services were offered to the consumer free of cost on his/her mobile phone.
Although the final launch is about a month away, the pilot is still accessible.
Interactive interface
To opt for an interactive interface, you could dial *505*807# on your phone serviced by a BSNL, Tata DoComo, or Idea number, get the menu and pick the one you want to proceed. However, those of you with a smartphone could access the services right from your mobile browser.
