Delhi LG ‘returns’ proposal for home delivery of public services
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Delhi LG ‘returns’ proposal for home delivery of public services

“Home delivery of governance”, proposed by the Delhi government in November this year, has come back from the LG with a caveat.

Delhi LG ‘returns’ proposal for home delivery of public services

Delhi government’s special scheme, “home delivery of governance”, proposed in November this year — which would have enabled residents to get 40 public services, including various certificates at their doorsteps — has hit a roadblock. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has asked the government to reconsider the scheme and come up with an alternative proposal.

The LG returned the proposal today with several queries.  His office also advised the government to focus on digitisation instead of home delivery. In a statement to the press, it said: “Out of 40 certificates mentioned in the proposal, maximum have been made available through the online system. It is advised to reconsider the proposal in its present form and consider an alternative model to eliminate corruption and improve public service delivery.”

The government had proposed to set up a call centre with a private agency. The applicants would have had to just give a call on the given number and the operator would note down the name of the applicant, the name of the documents and address of the applicant. In the next step, a sahayak [helper] — a government official from the concerned department — would visit the given address with a biometric device and a camera and prepare the documents and hand over the same instantaneously.

According Delhi deputy chief minister, Manish Sisodia, the proposal would have created a system that would have made visits to government offices redundant.

However, one of the major concerns raised by the LG was corruption — it was felt that another layer of human interaction in the services would widen the room for corruption. Also, personal visits would make safety an issue to reckon with.  

After the proposal was returned, Sisodia held a press conference today. He said, “The LG has taken the decision without knowing the field reality. We accept many services have been covered under the digitisation system. Yet, there are long queues in front of government offices despite digitisation. Most people still have to run around government offices with documents.”