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 reduction on its portal.
Former chief minister and Congress chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has visited a number of districts of Haryana affected by the latest floods, instructed media individuals at Rohtak Thursday that every one “anti-people” portals launched by the Manohar Lal Khattar authorities can 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 stated the federal government was “fooling farmers” within the title of portals.
Chatting with media individuals Monday, Haryana CM Khattar had stated that, as demanded by farmers who misplaced their crops because of floods, an internet portal ‘e-kshatipurti’ had been launched by the state authorities in order that the affected farmers can report their losses. He stated as soon as the farmers report their losses on e-kshatipurti, the claims can be verified by the district-level officers inside per week in order that the method of disbursement of compensation may begin instantly.
Nonetheless, talking to ThePrint Friday, Hooda stated: “We’re not towards digitisation in governance. However it is 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 because of harm attributable to floods. They’ve had no enterprise for the previous a number of days. It’s the responsibility of the federal government to succeed in out to them and compensate them for his or her losses. However the authorities desires them to use on the portal.”
Selja instructed ThePrint that a number of farmers have approached her with complaints that the federal government has fastened 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 must acquire signatures of the patwari (income officers) or another income official. If the farmers nonetheless must 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 off from a income official.
Hooda stated that if the Congress authorities involves energy in Haryana after the 2024 meeting polls, “all portals created to harass the general public” can be shut down.
“Digitisation began throughout the Congress regime after I was the chief minister. We began the method of digitisation of Panchayats. Nonetheless, the aim of digitisation was to make folks’s lives simpler and to not trigger extra inconvenience as this authorities is doing,” stated Hooda to the media Thursday.
“If the federal government has to acquire crops, then farmers are trapped within the net of Meri Fasal, Mera Byora’. The ‘Property ID’ began by the federal government has turn out to be a giant supply of corruption. The federal government is utilizing the household id 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 accountability of giving compensation to the flood victims,” stated Hooda, who has usually 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 satisfaction. He stated the portals launched by his authorities have offered folks of Haryana a possibility to entry advantages of varied authorities schemes sitting at house.
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 one more one in every of its digital initiatives — the property IDs.
“The lives of a couple of crore folks residing in 88 cities of Haryana have been adversely affected by the Property IDs due to discrepancies within the IDs. Individuals are being pressured to pay bribes to get these errors corrected,” stated Surjewala.
The Haryana CM’s media advisor, Amit Arya, nonetheless, 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 issue in understanding the idea of portals, they’ve now turn out to be comfy with the system and are availing advantages of such schemes.
“Haryana has over 100 portals right now the place folks get the good thing about varied schemes of the federal government sitting at house. This has eradicated the nepotism that was prevalent throughout earlier regimes,” stated Arya talking to ThePrint Friday.
He gave the instance of Antyodaya Saral portal, a faceless, paperless, and cashless service of the Haryana authorities, by which residents can get greater than 600 providers, 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 providers, folks don’t must take rounds of presidency workplaces. They only have to use on the portal,” he stated.
Arya added that greater than 100 apps and portals pertaining to agriculture, business, commerce, commerce, social welfare, growth, and lots of different fields, have been launched by the Khattar authorities. Any individual can get details about the federal government’s 684 schemes supplied by 54 departments at a click on.
In line with Arya, the Meri Fasal, Mera Byora portal has confirmed to be a boon for farmers, as they don’t must go to authorities workplaces for his or her subsidies and compensation anymore.
Equally, Covid apps launched throughout the pandemic, he stated, helped folks get details about the unfold of the illness, get remedy at house, and for on-line schooling of scholars.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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