E-governance catches on in Nilgiris

Saying that over 47,033 certificates, such as community and income certificates, have been issued since the inception of e-governance about 10 months ago, collector. Dr P. Sankar, said the process began with the opening of 10 common service centres (CSC) in Kotagiri taluk last November.

Over the past months, CSCs have come up in other parts of the district. Now, the district has 82 such centres, that includes 79 CSCs in primary cooperative agriculture societies across the hills. He said Nilgiris tops the state in the number of CSCs in a district.

“The residents can approach the CSCs with family card and other documents to register online to obtain certificates such as income certificate, community certificate and nativity certificate issued by the revenue department and the certificates to be issued by the social welfare department.

The public can also register online for marriage finance assistance scheme and other such welfare schemes being implemented by the social welfare department by paying the prescribed fee,” Dr Sankar said.

He added that after necessary perusals and verifications by the officials, the digital certificate would be sent to the CSC from where the applicants can obtain the certificate. “I personally monitor the scheme almost on a day-to-day basis. Generally, an applicant gets the certificate in 3 to 4 days. This system simplified the procedure and avoid the involvement of middlemen,” he said and added that around 8,000 online applications are under process now.

Ms Kanagavalli Pandian, a resident in Coonoor, said she was surprised to that she could get the community certificates for her children within four days after submitting the application in a CSC. It looks to be a tremendous scheme of the government as it saves time and energy, she said.