Chandigarh: The Haryana authorities’s digitisation initiatives have come below sharp assault from opposition events at a time when farmers in 12 out of the state’s 22 districts are battling floods and the federal government has requested affected farmers to use for aid on its portal.
Former chief minister and Congress chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has visited a number of districts of Haryana affected by the current floods, informed media individuals at Rohtak Thursday that each one “anti-people” portals launched by the Manohar Lal Khattar authorities might be be shut down as soon as the Congress votes the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP)-Jannayak Janata Occasion (JJP) authorities out of energy within the subsequent elections.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja additionally hit out on the state authorities throughout her go to to flood-affected Sirsa the identical day and mentioned the federal government was “fooling farmers” within the identify of portals.
Chatting with media individuals Monday, Haryana CM Khattar had mentioned that, as demanded by farmers who misplaced their crops as a result of floods, a web-based portal ‘e-kshatipurti’ had been launched by the state authorities in order that the affected farmers can report their losses. He mentioned as soon as the farmers report their losses on e-kshatipurti, the claims could be verified by the district-level officers inside per week in order that the method of disbursement of compensation might begin instantly.
Nevertheless, chatting with ThePrint Friday, Hooda mentioned: “We’re not in opposition to digitisation in governance. However this can be a time when lakhs of acres of land in additional than half of Haryana have been submerged below floodwaters. Individuals’s homes have collapsed, rendering them roofless. Shopkeepers have misplaced their items as a result of harm attributable to floods. They’ve had no enterprise for the previous a number of days. It’s the obligation of the federal government to achieve out to them and compensate them for his or her losses. However the authorities desires them to use on the portal.”
Selja informed ThePrint that a number of farmers have approached her with complaints that the federal government has mounted 31 July because the deadline to enroll in compensation however the e-kshatipurti portal doesn’t work more often than not.
“One other drawback being confronted by the farmers is that earlier than reporting their loss on the portal, they should get hold of signatures of the patwari (income officers) or another income official. If the farmers nonetheless should go to the income officers, what use is the portal?” Selja requested.
She added that there’s additionally an acute scarcity of patwaris in Haryana, which has compounded the farmers’ issues with the deadline coming nearer.
The federal government’s ‘Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’ portal, the place farmers can report crop losses, additionally requires the log out from a income official.
Hooda mentioned that if the Congress authorities involves energy in Haryana after the 2024 meeting polls, “all portals created to harass the general public” might be shut down.
“Digitisation began throughout the Congress regime once I was the chief minister. We began the method of digitisation of Panchayats. Nevertheless, the aim of digitisation was to make folks’s lives simpler and to not trigger extra inconvenience as this authorities is doing,” mentioned Hooda to the media Thursday.
“If the federal government has to obtain crops, then farmers are trapped within the internet of Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’. The ‘Property ID’ began by the federal government has change into an enormous supply of corruption. The federal government is utilizing the household identification card, or the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP), as a device to cease the pension of aged individuals. And now, the federal government has launched e-kshatipurti portal to run away from the duty of giving compensation to the flood victims,” mentioned Hooda, who has typically referred to as the Khattar authorities “Portal Ki Sarkar”.
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‘Portals have eradicated nepotism’
Khattar had Wednesday replied to this “Portal Ki Sarkar” jibe saying that he accepted this taunt with pleasure. He mentioned the portals launched by his authorities have supplied folks of Haryana a chance to entry advantages of varied authorities schemes sitting at dwelling.
In the meantime, Kumari Selja, All India Congress Committee (AICC) basic secretary Randeep Surjewala, and senior Congress chief Kiran Choudhry Friday addressed a joint press convention, throughout which they criticised the Khattar authorities for an additional considered one of its digital initiatives — the property IDs.
“The lives of multiple crore folks dwelling in 88 cities of Haryana have been adversely affected by the Property IDs due to discrepancies within the IDs. Individuals are being compelled to pay bribes to get these errors corrected,” mentioned Surjewala.
The Haryana CM’s media advisor, Amit Arya, nevertheless, claimed that ever since Khattar took over as CM in 2014, he has labored to usher in a system whereby folks get advantages from authorities schemes in a “clear method”.
He added that although initially folks confronted problem in understanding the idea of portals, they’ve now change into comfy with the system and are availing advantages of such schemes.
“Haryana has over 100 portals immediately the place folks get the good thing about varied schemes of the federal government sitting at dwelling. This has eradicated the nepotism that was prevalent throughout earlier regimes,” mentioned Arya chatting with ThePrint Friday.
He gave the instance of Antyodaya Saral portal, a faceless, paperless, and cashless service of the Haryana authorities, by way of which residents can get greater than 600 companies, utterly digitally.
“For works like issuance or renewal of arms licences, caste certificates, monetary help from CM’s Aid Fund, character verification from police, the net appointment for registration of sale deeds, and lots of extra companies, folks don’t should take rounds of presidency workplaces. They simply have to use on the portal,” he mentioned.
Arya added that greater than 100 apps and portals pertaining to agriculture, trade, commerce, commerce, social welfare, growth, and lots of different fields, have been launched by the Khattar authorities. Any particular person can get details about the federal government’s 684 schemes supplied by 54 departments at a click on.
In accordance with Arya, the Meri Fasal, Mera Byora portal has confirmed to be a boon for farmers, as they don’t should go to authorities workplaces for his or her subsidies and compensation anymore.
Equally, Covid apps launched throughout the pandemic, he mentioned, helped folks get details about the unfold of the illness, get remedy at dwelling, and for on-line schooling of scholars.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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