TNeGA to launch e-Office for paperless governance

TNeGA to launch e-Office for paperless governance

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

17.11.2021

During the lockdown, private firms allowed their employees to work from home (WFH). But the state government was unable to do so. Now, the Tamil Nadu egovernance agency (TNeGA) has a solution for this if any need arises in the future.

TNeGA has designed a tool named 'e-Office', which will help employees to access their office files from homes.

Using their username and password employees can login to e-Office, scan hardcopies of office files, work on the uploaded documents, prepare notes, and transfer it to their colleagues for reference, said a senior TNeGA official.

"We will get to know from where and for how long a file has remained pending. Also, there is no way a file can go missing. Even if there was a fire accident etc, they can be retrieved," the official added.

The agency is planning to launch 'e-Office' at all departments and district collectorates and has created 50,000 email points for this purpose. In the first phase, the tool is to be made available for 3,500 employees at the state secretariat. Archives in offices over there will be digitised before the launch in January.

M Anbarasu, president of Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association, said that it was practically impossible to implement 100% paperless governance from a remote location. Some government welfare schemes involve physical inspections, and such field inputs can be recorded digitally. Only matters related to finance can be dealt with using such tools, he said.

MG Devasagayam, retired IAS official, said that they tried it way back in 2007 when the Madras high court directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to act on building violations. But there was literally no support from the staff. So, the initiative was dropped.

"Also, it is important to see what is digitised. Are projects and violations worth thousands of crores going to be digitised? Dealing with daily routine alone will provide us convenience but not transparency," he said.