The Consumer Affairs Department, Government of West Bengal was created five years ago in November 1999 but in these few years, the Department has been entirely oriented towards E-Governance. NIC West Bengal State Unit has been involved with the computerization programme of the Department of Consumer Affairs in the areas of Application Software Development and Training. The Department has also been ably supported by Webel Technology Limited in installing the necessary hardware, network infrastructure and monitoring the functional aspect of computerization in all the locations. The website of the Department http://www.wbconsumers.nic.in is updated on a regular basis. More than 300 Consumer Complaints has been redressed so far through the website. Inauguration of the website of the department by the Hon’ble Minister-in-charge ?| Software Projects The Consumer Affairs Department intends to integrate its entire activities covering the State Headquarters, the Directorate of Legal Metrology and all its offices across the districts and the District Consumer Forums. At present, this software is implemented as individual system with provision for integration at a later stage. ?Consumers Disputes Redressal System (CDRS) Consumer Protection Act confers jurisdiction on the commission in matters where either there is defect of deficiency in goods or services or there has been any unfair business practice or restrictive trade practice. To reduce the time taken for completion of cases in the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums and to allow citizens to avail e-governance facilities, the consumer court proceedings beginning with the filing of a complaint to the completion of the case has been computerized. Called the Consumers Disputes Redressal System (CDRS), this has been implemented in all the Consumer Forums and has been able to resolve disputes faster with minimum number of adjudications. ?Cash Account of Legal Metrology (CALM) As per the central and state laws relating to Weights and Measures, the Inspector of Legal Metrology posted in each Sub-division collects Fees from Traders and issues Money Receipts (MR) and Certificate of Verification. The goal of the Software is to reconcile figures of the money collected from Traders and deposited in the Bank with the actual revenue collection recorded by the district Treasuries. ?Consumers Disputes Redressal System (e-CDRS) The CDRS data originating at the District Forums are imported to the Department website and the queries can be accessed by any user at http:// kolkata.wb.nic.in/cdrs. The status of court cases at all the District Forums can be viewed. The MIS generated on the data has been of major use by the Department in decision-making. ?Consumers Complaint Monitoring System (e-CCMS) The Department of Consumer affairs fulfilled its vision of providing seamless online complaint system through implementation of e-CCMS. The intention has been to protect and assure consumers of their rights and the Web-based Consumers Complaint Monitoring System enables consumers to lodge their complaints directly to the Department. Consumers can view the status of various actions taken by the Department on complaints made. The Principal Secretary directly supervises the Redressal System to ensure speedy redressal. ?Letter & File Monitoring System (LFMS) The Letter & File Monitoring System for Consumer Affairs Department has been developed with an aim to keep pace with the integrated office procedure. The functionalities include online entry for receipt and despatch, action taken, reply receipt and despatch, file creation, file transfer to different officials and maintenance of letter and file movement data. ?Fund Flow Monitoring System (FFMS) Fund Flow Monitoring System for Consumer Affairs monitors the financial position of the Department at any instant with respect to Budget allocation. ?Personnel Management Information System (PMIS) The Personnel Management Information System is a Client-Server based package and provides a user-friendly, menu-driven interface to enter data regarding Personnel Information, Posting History, In-service Training, Leave etc as recorded in the Service Book of the employee. ?Computerisation of Salary Accounts (COSA) Computerisation of Salary Accounts has been developed with the sole purpose of standardizing salary accounts in the State. The functionalities of COSA include generation of monthly pay slips, pay bills (inner & outer sheets), bill extract, input statement required by A.G., monthly consolidated report of pay & allowances, GPF schedule etc. ?Excerpts from Annual Report (2002-03) of the Department “A major breakthrough was setting up a website through the good offices of the National Informatics Centre, West Bengal Unit, for recording consumer grievances, resolving them through mediation and providing relevant information to consumers. In addition, the NIC created customised software to computerise court-work in the Fora, personnel management, budgetary management, Legal Metrology accounts and salary bills of all three branches. We are grateful to its head Dr. Subir Roy and his colleagues (Smt. M. Banerjee and Shri Subrata Roy Gupta in particular) for their initiative, unstinted help and ready response to our demands. Simultaneously, the steady support provided by NITPU (Smt. Anna Majumdar, Shri Devasish Chanda and their colleagues) enabled Internet access, effective interaction with consumers over e-mail and vastly improved the communication channels between the department and the three branches of its field units. E-governance started becoming a reality as consumers began e-mailing their appreciation for the help they received with unexpected speed.”