Bhubaneswar: As part of the 5T initiative, the state government has decided to develop a mobile application for filing and monitoring RTI applications.
The information and public relation (I&PR) department will engage a firm to develop the applications. According to sources, the application will be named as Biju Transparency App (BIJUTAPP) which will be in English and Odia languages. This application will be developed in sync with the respective web applications.
The need for a mobile application is high as most of the places in Odisha do not have proper internet connectivity. This became a problem for the users of the portal. By using the mobile application, people without depending upon cyber café and other internet sources can use the mobile application to upload their issues, the sources said.
The mobile app will have login for common users and public authorities, online filling & receiving of RTI applications, uploading of necessary documents while filling the online applications, updating of RTI proactive disclosures & e-filing and SMSes & mail integrations.
The government has also going to redevelop state RTI portal–http://rtiodisha.gov.in to make it more user friendly, the source said.
The portal will have e-filing tool like the Central RTI portal. Currently, the government is using manual reporting system. This reporting mechanism is dependent upon the mail and postal delivery systems. The postal department takes long time to deliver the report to concern person. Therefore, the e-filing too will be developed so that people will not need to post the application after online filing.
Moreover, the portal will have e-reporting model for the Public Information Officer (PIO) so that they can get any type of statistics and subjective data from top to bottom offices.
Over 12,000 government offices will be connected in this portal and all will submit data and report in a single format, the source added.