The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD's e-governance gets Infosys boost

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 22, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD's e-governance gets Infosys boost

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 21. Aimed at using information technology applications for the benefit of Delhiites, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi today signed a memorandum of understanding with the eGovernment Foundation, a non-profit organisation supported by Fortune 500 Infosys.

The Foundation, whose mission is to provide municipal software system for use in cities across the country free of cost, would help out the MCD in the areas of property tax, monitoring public grievances, fund based accounting and geographical information system (GIS).

The MoU was signed by the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, and the managing trustee of the Foundation, Srikanth Nadhamuni, in the presence of the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the Infosys chief executive officer, Nanden Nilekani, who started the Foundation in February 2003. Mr. Mehta said under the MoU, the Foundation would be providing free software, worth an estimated market value of Rs. 9 crores.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Dikshit termed it as a red-letter day in the history of Delhi in general and MCD in particular. "With this the MCD would move many steps forward towards providing e-governance to the people of Delhi," she said and hoped this would result in better people and Government interface and a hassle-free and transparent system. "The days are not far when Delhi will become a role model for other municipalities in India," she said. Mr. Nilekani said, through the MoU they aim to streamline the municipal system. "This will bring about transparency of information and smother delivery of services to Delhiites," he said, adding: "The theme of the hour is improving public accountability, transparency and high quality service delivery system." The Foundation is already giving services to Bangalore and at the request of Karnataka Government it is now deploying its software applications in 56 cities across the State, he said.

Later at the Standing Committee meeting, the Janakpuri Councillor, Sanjay Puri, strongly objected that the names of Delhi Mayor, A. R. Verma, the Leader of House, Satbir Singh, and the Standing Committee Chairman, Mukesh Goel, were not printed on the invitation card. Supported by the Standing Committee Deputy Chairman, Ashok Jain, Mr. Puri said this was an insult to democratically elected representatives. Mr. Jain called for an inquiry on the issue as this was against the tradition of the MCD.

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