Karnataka - Bangalore   

Key agencies need to digitise data from April

BANGALORE: Come April, three key agencies regulating development in Bangalore and its vicinity, have to necessarily go digital to ensure transparency and better management of records.

The Bangalore Development Authority, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike and the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority will have to computerise all documents the agencies sanction from April 1, a direction from the Karnataka Information Commission (KIC) says. The documents include building plans, commencement certificates, occupation certificates and other related documents.

The KIC has also directed that over a period of time, sanctions issued before April 1 must also be computerised. “Pending such computerisation, records relating to sanction of building plans, both for residential and multi-storey buildings, shall be retained for 50 years,” the order copy states. The KIC has further directed that all data must be stored in such a format that it cannot be changed or modified and will thereafter be available without much difficulty. The KIC directions come after an individual filed a complaint before it stating that the BDA had not provided him information on a building plan. In the course of the proceedings, it came to light that the BDA had no policy on the duration it preserves its records.

During this period, the BDA issued a circular in December stating that all records in its Engineering Section would be retained for 30 years, the same period that the Public Works Department (PWD) keeps its records. Building plans would be retained for five years for residential houses and 10 years for multi-storey buildings. Not satisfied with this, the Commission issued the directions asking that all records be computerised.

“If a flyover collapses 10 years after it was built, we need the records to re-examine what went wrong,” State Chief Information Commissioner K.K. Misra told The Hindu while explaining the order. The agencies going digital is also mandatory under Section 4(1)(a) of the Right To Information Act, 2005, which states that a public authority has to ensure that subject to availability of resources, all records must be computerised within a reasonable time.

The order is likely to give a push towards better management of records, a malady that has been hindering the effective implementation of the RTI Act.

The BDA has started the process of cataloguing its records and preparing a software package for a proposed information system.

It might, however, not be able to meet the April 1 deadline, set by the KIC, said B.G. Satish, systems manager at the agency.

The BDA has outsourced the process of developing the software to HCL and the project titled BDA Integrated Information Management System will cost Rs. 2 crore. “Once the software is in force, then information at the BDA’s disposal will be available online,” Mr. Satish said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Henry D’Souza is Bellary Bishop
Rain brings down power consumption in State
Prakash formally joins Congress
Extension of Metro Rail line hits roadblock
‘Honest officers can’t be influenced’
Office shifted
Efficiency key to survival of coop. institutions, says Chandrashekar
Modi arrives on two- day State visit
Farmers protest against land acquisition
Key agencies need to digitise data from April
Workshop
Inquiry
Make dialysis affordable: experts
Award for Subbulakshmi’s daughter
Marching for a better city
Union to fight for pre-paid taxi counter

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu