Real time governance not visible in offices of Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: To make the administration more efficient and responsive, the special measures initiated by the Andhra Pradesh government have not yielded encouraging results so far.

In fact, the government has decided to implement Real Time Governance in full fledged manner in the state, and as an extension to this, the government has further introduced Single File System, which has also not been visible in government offices.

In a review meeting with RTG committee members and IT Advisor, in October, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that he would review the progress of its implementation every Wednesday. However, this has not been taking place thus far.

During his Sri Lanka visit, the CM has made a special mention about RTG, saying that AP has become a role model for several states in the country in RTG.
The state government has issued a GO on Single File System.

SFS was introduced initially between all the HoDs using e-Office system and the Secretariat departments, in November. Separate guidelines were issued for introduction of SFS from mandal to division to district offices.

As part of SFS, paper-based correspondence between HoDs and the administrative departments of Secretariat will be eliminated.

All proposals and other correspondence from HoDs to the Secretariat departments shall be only through e-Office, the GO has stated issued by the Information Technology Electronics and Commu-nications (ITE&C) department.

In an in-camera meeting convened with top bureaucrats, Chief Mini-ster N. Chandrababu Naidu had directed Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker, on October 25, to simplify the procedures of files disposal in order to increase the confidence levels over the government among the public.

However, even after the GO came into existence, things remain the same.
The GO issued by ITE&C has stated that the use of e-Office has been extended to the heads of departments and the district offices in a phased manner.
But, it was not shaped concretely so far.

At present, 1,338 employees are working in 33 Secretariat departments and 3,718 working in 89 HoDs, using the e-Office system. Besides this, 516 employees working in 20 corporations and societies too are using the system.

The committee constituted for the purpose recommended that SFS may be implemented in two compartments, namely HoD to Secretariat and mandal to division to district offices. However, in reality, the grievances of the applicants in a majority of the state departments have remained unresolved.

CRDA takes U-turn on twin towers project
The CRDA has taken U-turn on twin towers project. Now, it wants to go for Request For Proposal on the project by rejecting the proposal already submitted by an NRI entrepreneur, eight months ago.

The entrepreneur has been running from pillar to post to get his file cleared at various levels, and he couldn’t succeed in his attempts. In fact, the McKinsey consultancy had raised several objections over his proposal and reportedly insisted him to get the DPR done by them.

Following his refusal, the file was put under abeyance and now, the CRDA has officially taken a stand to go for RFP, on the project. The Real Time Governance and Single File System, which the Government has been uttering from various platforms couldn’t support the cause of the NRI, who was ready to bring in investment to add value addition and also generate employment in the new Capital Amaravati.

After having internal discussions with their consultants McKinsey, the CRDA authorities have reportedly arrived into a decision, to place the issue before CMO. It is also learnt that the NRI has conveyed his decision of going back from his proposal, if it is not addressed within a month.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker and Principal Secretary (CRDA) Ajay Jain have sought the details of the project and also reportedly enquired the CRDA officials as to why the delay is taking place, when the proposals are placed some three months ago.

The NRI entrepreneur Dasari Radhakrishna has reportedly conveyed his decision that in case of further delay, he has to think about executing the project.

Unable to convince the McKinsey consultants, the CRDA officials have taken a decision to send back the proposal to the Chief Minister’s Office after a report appeared in these columns.

In fact, the NRI had a dialogue with the CRDA commissioner  Cherukuri Sreedhar, in the presence of Mr  Tucker three months ago, and later he met the commissioner again to pursue the proposal. Since the CRDA has McKinsey as its consultant, the proposal was placed before McKinsey.

When asked about the present status of the project, director of Eco-nomic Development, CRDA, Y. Nagi Reddy, has stated that the CRDA now wants to go for Request For Proposal over twin towers project, due to administrative reasons.
When the issue was brought to the notice of a senior bureaucrat in the CMO, he said that such huge projects attract the attention of the big investors and hence, the CRDA has taken the stand of going for RFP.

However, he was tight-lipped over the alleged interference of McKinsey into the entire episode. The RTG and SFS are not applicable for this project, the senior bureaucrat disclosed to this correspondent.