VISAKHAPATNAM, Andhra Pradesh e-Governance Initiatives in City of Destiny towards Digital District & Digital India
NIC District Centre, Visakhapatnam, since its inception has been instrumental in developing and successfully implementing various ICT based initiatives in the District besides its role in spreading the ICT culture among the Government Departments. The success stories are many and the efforts are unceasing.
Visakhapatnam, the coastal port city, also known as ‘Jewel of the East Coast’ is situated in the State of Andhra Pradesh. Located at the eastern shore of India, nestled among the hills of the Eastern Ghats and facing the Bay of Bengal to the East, the district is also the home of Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval Command. Visakhapatnam is the largest city of Andhra Pradesh with an area of 550 sq. km and is primarily an industrial city.
According to the history, the city was named after the God of Valor-Vishakha. It was a part of the Kalinga Kingdom, under Ashoka's rule in 260 B.C. and was later ruled by Andhra Kings of Vengi. After this, Pallava, Chola and Ganga dynasties ruled the city. In the 15th century, Visakhapatnam became a part of the Vijayanagar Empire.
Visakhapatnam is popular as one of the best tourism destinations in Andhra Pradesh. From lakes to cool beaches, from beautiful hill ranges to caves & valleys, Visakhapatnam has them all. The district has many tourism spots that represent the culture and heritage of true India. The famous temple Simhachalam Lord Narasimha Swamy is situated in the district.
The District Centre of NIC has always played a pivotal role in channelizing the powers of e-Governance to the public in this district. Such initiatives not only streamline the processes but also bring efficiency and transparency in Government functioning. It is pertinent to be mentioned here that when the entire district remained cut off from the rest of the world for a week during the HUDHUD Cyclone, the only means of communication available for conducting the VC and using the Internet was possible through NIC link. The Visakhapatnam district portal is playing a gateway role for all the e-Governance initiatives. NIC District Centre plays a major role in training and capacity building among the department officials in all the areas including e-Office and AEBAS. — PRAVIN KUMAR, IAS Collector & District Magistrate Visakhapatnam
INTRODUCTION NICNET AND VIDEO CONFERENCE SERVICES NIC District centre was established in 1988. Since then, it had been extending the ICT services and also promoting informatics culture in the District Administration and various Central, State and District Government Offices. Presently, to foster the Digital India momentum in
Visakhapatnam District official Website
the District, NIC primarily involves in the activities of Digital India Program, G2C, G2E, G2G services through District website, ICT culture and implementing innovative ICT concepts in the District.
Visakhapatnam district has created a new digital pattern by implementing innovative concept of designing and implementing the Land Regularization Module, RIG (A RIG is the equipment used to drill a borewell) registration, software for SIT (Special Investigation Team), uploading of content like GOs, Deepam, CSR gas connections etc. to make District website more dynamic.
VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT WEBSITE (http://visakhapatnam.nic.in) With the need to update the content regularly, a dynamic website was developed for the district administration to update IT related content.
LAND REGULARISATION AND LAND GRIEVANCE MONITORING SYSTEM It is an online facility provided to the citizens to regularize the encroached land sites as per government order. Grievance monitoring system is to track the complaints by citizens on the authorities during the process of receiving applications.
DEEPAM, CSR GAS CONNECTIONS AND RAGAM An online system to register the beneficiary details from Meeseva centers to distribute the gas connections to BPL families in the district on subsidy. For transparency, a parallel application RAGAM was developed to register the grievance from the public for civil supplies Department.
GREATER VISAKHAPATNAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION HOUSING FOR ALL BPL FAMILIES A project to provide the government housing scheme to all BPL families and white ration card holders. The data of ration card holders was collected from NIC State HQ and the beneficiary details were filtered, thus not allowing them to apply for the scheme through Meeseva centres. The entire process has been automated. Status: Total applications received: 2.25 Lakhs Processed: 75,000 Pattas distributed: 35,000 Balance to be distributed: 40,000
REGISTRATION OF NEW MEESEVA CENTRES An application initiated as a part of e-Gov. program to allocate the CSC (Common Service Centers) to general public. This application allows people to apply through Meeseva and allotment of the centres are done by the District Administration in a transparent manner. Status: Total: 1,200 Processed: 396 Selected: 75
Land Regularization Information System of Visakhapatnam District
DIO & ADIO welcoming the Hon’ble Minister E&IT and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad on his visit to Visakhapatnam
COURT CASES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM A system to maintain the details of pending cases against the District Administration in various level Courts which will allow the officials to make timely attendance to eliminate the charges. Status of Pending Cases: Hon’ble Supreme Court – 4 Hon’ble High Court – 963 District Court – 303 Appellate Authority – 25
VILLAGE WISE FMB/ SFA To display the Field Measurement Book (Land Map) and Settlement Fair Adangal of the land. These are main revenue records to the public. This Application is used to download FMB/ SFA scanned copies of Respective Mandal and Villages.
ONE TIME LAND CONVERSION An Application to allow the land owners to convert their Agriculture (Jirayathi) land to Private land for the purpose of selling them as plots. Status: Total 1,584 under process.
RIG REGISTRATION SYSTEM A Workflow-based Application for Department of Ground Water and Water Audit. This App is used to register the RIGs by vendors to drill the borewells in their jurisdiction. This helps the Department to curb the illegal and indiscriminate drilling of borewells.
REVENUE EMPLOYEE’S INFORMATION As District Administration desires to maintain the total service register of the employees, the software is designed, developed and implemented in Collector’s office.
MEEKOSAM TOKENS Govt. of AP introduced a unique grievance program on every Monday in collectorate. All the District Officials need to be available for the public to receive their grievances. To avoid the crowd during Grievance time in District Collectorate, it is helpful in sending one by one by giving a token number to the applicant to meet the District Collector to express their Grievance.
MEETINGS DISPLAY As daily number of meetings being held in collectorate meeting hall, to avoid the confusion, District Collector requested to develop and display meetings on real time basis. NIC developed and implemented an application to display meetings at the entrance of the meeting hall and schedule of the meetings.
GOVERNMENT LAND INFORMATION SYSTEM It is a huge task for District Administration to protect the Govt. lands. The Joint Collector requested to develop a software tool to store information in various formats for monitoring the Government Lands. NIC developed and implemented software Application for it.
SIT LAND COMPLAINT REGISTRATION SYSTEM Government of AP ordered to setup a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for various land grabbing, encroachments and tampering of records in district of Visakhapatnam on receiving various complaints from the public. NIC has developed software to register petitions online/ offline by the public which is received by various department officials, then SIT team works for verification & investigation in a transparent manner.
Special investigation Components of IFMS Team portal for complaints on Visakhapatnam lands
KGH OP/ IP REGISTRATION SYSTEM A software module has been developed for King George Hospital (KGH) Administration to issue the OP and IP Tickets as per the guidelines given by the Director of Medical Education and Ministry of Health.
OTHER ACTIVITIES IN THE DISTRICT
GENERAL ELECTIONS 2014 For the smooth conduct of General Elections to both Parliament and Assembly, NIC District Centre has developed randomization software for Polling personnel, Micro-observers and EMVS, Pos Dairy for election observers. Technical support was given to prepare the electoral rolls and filing of nominations. Webcast facility with live streaming was provided for the entire poll process. Technical support was given for counting votes and results declaration.
HUDHUD CYCLONE RELIEF OPERATIONS HUDHUD cyclone occured in the month of October, 2014 has resulted in heavy damages and losses in Visakhapatnam. The entire communication network was destroyed including that of Collector Office. A Camp Office was set up and the entire district’s power and communications was restored within 10 days. For the smooth function of the activities, NIC network was restored on the next day of the disaster and Internet & VC facility were provided. Call Centre was established on war footing.
SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES OF VARIOUS EVENTS As per the District Collector’s requirement to develop pages in Social Media to reach out to the people in the District, NIC has designed various Facebook pages for use by the district officers.
OTHER PROJECTS
ONLINE TRANSFERS OF REVENUE AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS The Government of Andhra Pradesh allows transfer of employees of the various departments as per policies. An online system for the display of vacancies, request and allotment of the posting by the higher authorities was developed and deployed.
RECRUITMENT APPLICATIONS FOR MEDICAL DEPARTMENTS Nursing Recruitment, Vaidya Mitras and Medical Counselors - These are the applications to collect the applicant details through citizen centres and process them for the recruitment.
NDAL: National Database of Arms License has been implemented for generation of Unique Identification Number for the Arms License.
E-OFFICE e-Office is a key initiative taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and a GO was issued to implement paperless offices in the District. Necessary training programmes were conducted for all the employees and the system has brought all the departments under e-Office platform.
AEBAS (AADHAAR ENABLED BIOMETRIC ATTENDANCE SYSTEM) AEBAS is another key initiative taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to implement in all the departments of the District, Sub-District, Division and at the grass root level. Almost all the departments in the District have onboarded to AEBAS.
Shri P.P. Chaudhary, Hon’ble MoS, C&IT visiting the NIC e- Governance Stall - 2017
APPOINTMENT OF DIOS AS SLMTS (STATE LEVEL MASTER TRAINERS) BY ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA In order to train the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), Election DTs and Booth Level Officers to map the polling stations boundaries using Google Maps, on ERONET(ERONET is for ERs management) and on AMF (Assured Minimum Facilities) to provide the facilities like electricity, water, ramps etc. at all the polling stations.
NKN TO VARIOUS KNOWLEDGE BASED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS Andhra Medical College, Andhra University, Petroleum University, Indian Institute of Management, INS Satavahana Wood Science Deptt. etc. are provided with 1GB bandwidth, 8Mbps lines and monitored for Immigration at airport, CBI, pay and accounts at customs & central excise, DGFT, FCI, PQS, NAD, Defence Estate Office, CGHS, Income Tax and District Court.
CONFONET The Case Monitoring System provides a single-window solution for automation of all the activities undertaken at the Consumer Forums. This is smoothly running in District.
EPDS e-PDS software, Supply Chain Management including Cashless Transactions have been implemented by District Supply office with the help of NIC.
MPLADS SCHEME Implemented in the District by the DRDA with the help of NIC.
E-COURTS PROJECT Implemented with the support of NIC in the District Court and Sub-Courts.
NATIONAL ANIMAL DISEASE REPORTING SYSTEM (NADRS) Implemented by the Animal Husbandry Department with the help of NIC District Centre.
INTERNATIONAL FLEET REVIEW (IFR) This was a prestigious event conducted jointly by Defence Ministry, Govt. of India and GOAP to showcase the Navy capabilities of our country and also by other countries. NIC was given the responsibility for setting up of offices of President of India, Prime Minister and AP Governor during their stay for IFR. A sophisticated PM camp office was established with High Speed Internet, WI-FI Hotspot, Computer Equipment and Hotline connection to work 24x7, and also similar setup was established at the dais.
ICT SUPPORT AT VARIOUS SUMMITS/ CONFERENCES CII, PARTNERSHIP SUMMIT has been conducted jointly by the GoAP and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) for attracting the business community to establish the industry and startup companies in AP. The summit was attended by delegates from various countries. NIC has
Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Camp Office at Naval Dock Yard, Visakhapatnam during IFR visit
A moment from the visit of Hon’ble President of India
successfully completed the task of establishing the State of the Art Media Centre, WIFI Hotspot and Internet connectivity for the entire area during the summit, and also played a significant role in issuing the color-coded passes to all the participating delegates of the event.
BRICS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE BRICS is a prestigious conference organized by the GoAP to establish an open platform inviting the delegates from the countries namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to share their views and Investment opportunities. A complete technical support was given by the NIC to establish the Media Centre with 100 Mbps internet connectivity and high speed systems.
ICT SUPPORT TO 20TH NATIONAL E-GOV CONFERENCE About 1000 delegates from various States and the Central Government and top executives from IT companies have attended the 20th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) which was held from January 9 to 10, 2017. The conference, with the theme ‘Digital Transformation’ had prime importance mainly after demonetization and Hon‘ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s thrust on creation of digitally empowered society. Chief Minister, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Union IT Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad and a host of central and state ministers and senior bureaucrats have attended this event.
NCeG had discussed cyber security policy for future, technology-led monetary transactions leading to financial inclusion, digital economy through last mile connectivity. NIC Visakhapatnam extended information technology and connectivity support for the successful hosting of the summit which was highly appreciated by the authorities.
VISITS OF VVIPS After bifurcation of the State of Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam has become a major and prominent city in Andhra Pradesh for conducting major events, program workshops etc. and hence VVIPs are visiting the city often. NIC Visakhapatnam is continuously providing IT and infrastructure support during these visits of the Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and other dignitaries.
SUMMARY As an integral part of the digital journey towards the implementation of Digital District, NIC District centre is playing a vital role by providing technical support in its entirety and under the guidance of the State Informatics Officer. This becomes a valuable support for District Administration to successfully execute various e-Governance and ICT activities in line with the objectives of Digital India Program of Government of India.
GVMC Housing for All Patta Distribution by Hon’ble CM of Andhra Pradesh