Bhubaneswar: At a time when many government departments are jumping onto the bandwagon to increase the levels of access to information to the public and the taxpayers, there are many botched up experiments of different sectors which remained mostly as show-off exercises.
The state government during the World Cup Hockey had invested huge funds to give the state capital a shiny look which started fading over time. One fancy system that the government installed during the time was public vehicle speed display screen.
However within months after it was flaunted before the foreign tourists and the domestic commuters, many started to malfunction. Slowly, the number of such malfunctioning display-screen escalated and now many of them have vanished from their specified locations proving them to be a botched up exercise. Similar is the case of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar. Some eye-catching display kiosks were installed on the premises of the premier central hospital to help the patients get information on health issues from such kiosks. However many of them are lying idle for months proving another curious case of show-off items of the government bought on tax payers’ money.
An official of the hospital said, “It was installed to keep the patients get information on several health ailments, its symptoms and other facets of health related information. I admit that some are defunct. We will look into the matter.” The defunct kiosks now lie idle with National Health Portal’s (NHP) logo.
Another arrangement of transparency was arranged in the state through the system of e-dispatch where few years ago the departments got the chance to send their correspondences electronically and also receive e-letters. While some departments started using it and adapted to it, many departments failed to join the e-correspondence system and still seldom use it. Statistics show that some departments like Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Law and Odisha Language and Culture Department and a few others have not used the e-correspondence system under the e-dispatch system to learn the smart ways of using internet for access to information on real time basis.
Interestingly, the state government which started the online RTI system in the state also seem to be lagging behind as RTI applications in Odisha still have to be sent either through post or personal visits, despite filing the RTI and paying the fees online. It makes the whole online exercise a mere a show.