GHMC body's apathy delays 'TEAM' app launch

Hyderabad: A delay in the launch of the online monitoring system Task Electronic Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) has led to several irregularities in the engineering wing of the Greater Municipal Corporation.

Taking a cue from the nala desilting scam, the Greater Municipal Corporation has decided to develop an online monitoring system for all engineering work. In June last year, the civic body decided to develop TEAM, that would help in automating the workflow process using mobile/web cloud technology, besides eliminating manipulation in the progress of work from inception to payments to contractors. The civic body had even announced that it would launch the mobile application on January 26, 2018. However, the corporation is yet to launch TEAM.

The idea of the TEAM App was mooted after the Rs 1.2 crore nala desilting scam, when contractors submitted fake bills along with fake registration numbers of vehicles used to transport the silt, but which turned out to be belonging to two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws and cars. The contractors disclosed that 13 assistant engineers were hand in glove with them and helped get the bills passed without verification. The application includes estimation, procurement, work order, work monitoring, measurement book, quality control, bills and payments with approvals via mobile app cum web-based system. However, due to apathy of GHMC officials the app is still not functional.

When asked about the delay, additional commissioner Musharaf Ali Farooqi said that the corporation had already tested the application on a pilot basis in March and April. He said the corporation had found several variations when online data was compared with manual records. It had multiple bugs including differences in calculations. Musharaf Ali said in order to clear all bugs and make the application user- friendly; the corporation had been testing the real time issues with the help of two assistant engineers assisted by executive engineers in May. 

The audit department had also raised certain concerns that it would consider the digital signatures to process the bills.

The IT additional commissioner said that there had been certain delay from the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) that had been designing the application. 

The application is in its final stages. “We will ensure that the application will not have any legal or technical implications after the launch. Weekly review meetings have been conducted to identify and resolve real time issues,” he said.

TEAM has several features and the progress can be monitored in different categories. Its analysis feature can help in better planning and it can alert project overruns, delays, funds diversions, cost escalations etc.