Himachal CSC team's visit to Panchkula CSCs

by Administrator 23. August 2008 10:23

The SITEG team consisting of Sh. Pankaj Rai (Jt. Director), Sh. Rajeev Sharma (Manager IT), Sh. Anil Semwal (Deputy Manager IT), Sh. Naveen Bindra (Programme Manager IT) and Sh. Varun Rattan Singh (NLSA) visited the CSC centres setup by SCA in Haryana on 11th July 2008.
The team was received by Sh. Pushpender Sharma (HARTRON), District Nodal Officer, Panchkula, who also acted as the facilitator of the tour.

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The CSCs in Panchkula are set-up and managed by Sark Systems Pvt. Ltd.

The first CSC visited by the team was in Chikan village. The team made the following observations:

The village had almost 2000 registered voters.
The VLE running in the CSC centre in Chikan was earlier working as an employee of the SCA.
The VLE paid a security deposit of Rs.50, 000/- to the SCA. In return the VLE received 2 computers, 1 Printer, An inverter with 6 – 7 hour backup. The hardware configuration of the computers was
- Processor: Dual core Intel E2140 @ 1.6 GHz
- RAM: 512 MB
- OS: Windows XP
- Printer: Epson inkjet CX 5500

In addition to this the VLE had installed 2 more computers from his own resources.
The VLE was paying a monthly rent of Rs 700/- per month for renting the shop.

The VLE was earning Rs 5000 – 6000/- per month by providing computer education service.

The SCA has recently started selling micro insurance plans for Birla Sun Life through CSCs.
The SCA was in the process of rolling out SBI referral services through the centres.

The services available at the centre are:

Sr No	Services	Centre Charges
1.	Application form for: Driving licence Vehicle registration Election Id Birth Certificate Death Certificate Loan for women	Rs.10 first page, Rs.5 for every additional page
2.	Matrimony registration	Rs.15/-
3.	Employment registration	Rs.15/-
4.	Computer education	Rs.300 per month per student
5.	Film club services	Rs 50/- per month
7.	Internet services	Rs 20/- per hour
8.	Mobile downloads	Rs 30 per service
9.	Colour photos	Rs 30 for 10 copies
10.	Railway reservation	Rs 20 per ticket
11.	Colour printout	Rs 15 per copy
12.	Black & White printout	Rs 5 per copy

The second CSC visited by the team was in Rajipur village. The observations are as follows:
- The VLE in the village was employed in Chandigarh
- He had in turn employed a lady employee for Rs 1500/- per month to manage the centre and provide training.
- In this centre also the VLE had installed 2 additional computers apart from the 2 provided by the SCA.
- The VLE had also installed a photocopier machine as well as a lamination machine.
- The VLE in the village was employed in Chandigarh
- He had in turn employed a lady employee for Rs 1500/- per month to manage the centre and provide training.
- In this centre also the VLE had installed 2 additional computers apart from the 2 provided by the SCA.
- The VLE had also installed a photocopier machine as well as a lamination machine.
- The services were same as listed above.
Chandimandir was the third village visited by the team. The observations are as follows
- The population of the village was approximately 4500.
- The space for CSC centre was provided above the Anganwadi. This was done with the permission of the Panchayat.
- The VLE had the same hardware as listed above. In addition to the standard hardware the VLE had installed 2 more computers.
- The VLE in this village was the most enterprising and earning the most amongst all the three.
- His monthly income was Rs 7000 – 8000 of which the major chunk came from computer education
- The VLE had taken up 2 batches, the first consisting of 37 students and the second one of 24 students.
- The VLE also maintained an attendance register of the students.
- The computer course provided basic knowledge of working on a computer including a Microsoft office. The course was for 6 months. At the end of the course the students will undergo an online test and the certifications will come from Microsoft.
The team subsequently proceeded to the Sec 17, Chandigarh to meet the officials of HARTRON which is the State Designated Agency in Haryana. 2 rounds of meeting were held.
The first meeting was with Mr.A.K.Sharma (AGM) who is the nodal officer for the scheme in Haryana. Sh. Parveen Bansal, NLSA representative for Haryana also joined the meeting. Some of the observations which came up in the meeting are:
- The interest of VLE are prime and state should ensure that VLE are not fleeced by the SCAs
- The contact information of the District Nodal Officer and State Nodal Officer for CSC scheme should be displayed in all the CSCs to received customer grievances.
  The Nodal officers do receive calls from VLE and citizens to know about the status of G2C services. This means that the CSC scheme is causing a desired effect of raising a bottom up pressure of providing e-Governance services.
- E-Praman service will be started on pilot basis in Rohtak district where the SCA has to deliver the application form to backend department and certificate to the citizen through the CSC within specified period which will not be more then 3 days as per the agreed SLAs.
- The SDA is also working through the office of the Chief Secretary to stop the use of affidavits and replacing them with self certification. The same has already been implemented in Chandigarh.
The second meeting was held with Shri. V S Kundu (MD Hartron). During this meeting Shri Kundu informed that CSCs being implemented in Gurgaon district have better infrastructure than in Panchkula district. In these centres, VSAT connectivity is being provided. He also informed that Ration Card service is being started in CSCs in which VLE will receive applications for Ration Card. VLE training is being organised in Gurgaon on 18th July, 2008 regarding G2C services. More services will be added these centres, by making them as government collection and delivery points.
By the end of the visit, the SDA team could identify that preparedness to offer G2C services was high in Himachal Pradesh. The state had a lead in terms of computerisation of various line departments. This would certainly help the state in faster roll out of G2C services through the CSCs in the state. The CSCs in Haryana were primarily earning from B2C services and yet they remain viable. So it was felt that with faster rollout of G2C services in the state CSC in Himachal will have a healthy service mix thereby making the centres viable.