The home ministry is going high-tech to rid itself of the bureaucratic tangle that often bogs it down and to let people know about the status of their files or services they sought from the ministry.
The ministry is going to digitise its everyday functioning in order to move towards e-governance. It believes this step would rid the ministry of the red tape menace and let it be more transparent to people.
Once fully implemented, officials concerned and service seekers would be able to know where the files they want are, what is being done to them, why a particular file is stuck and when service seekers are going to get the services they desire.
Home Minster Shahara Khatun yesterday disclosed the new steps at a press briefing at her Secretariat office yesterday after a meeting with officials of the ministry and the heads of the directorates, including police, Rab and Border Guard Bangladesh.
She formed two committees in this regard. The steering committee headed by her will include all the heads of directorates in the ministry while the implementation committee headed by the joint secretary (political) will have one official with good command in ICT from each directorate.
Home ministry sources said “Information Management System (IMS)” will be implemented in four phases over four years at an approximate cost of Tk 1.40 crore, which the government will provide.
Shahara said the job of digitisation will start today (Monday) and after introduction of the system, all files in the ministry will be processed digitally alongside paper documents.
Joint Secretary (political) Kamal Uddin Ahmed, who is going to be member secretary to the steering committee too, told The Daily Star that now service seekers often get tangled in red tape and it takes a long time to trace the files concerned. But once the digitisation process is complete files will be traced within moments.
The main problem in the existing file management system is that often officials and service seekers do not know where the file concerned is, where it is stuck and why it is stuck there, he said. Another hassle is the lack of coordination between officials which only makes service seekers suffer, he added.
He said, “For example, a passport seeker is supposed to receive his/her passport within the stipulated 15 days but if it goes beyond that time, the applicant will be able to know whether the police officer concerned or staff at the passport office is causing the delay…”
Home bosses would be able to detect problems in the functioning of the ministry, identify the officials concerned and even have video conferences to have the problem sorted out, he added.
From the Secretariat to the grassroots, offices of directorates under the ministry will be linked digitally via a central server so that any sort of application from service seekers is recorded in the central server of the ministry, said Kamal.
He said the IMS had been designed in a very user friendly manner and it would be very easy for officials at the home ministry and its directorates concerned to work with the system which utilises touch screens.
Home ministry sources added that officers and staff of the directorates under the ministry will be provided with training on how to maintain and use IMS.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): M Rahman
Quelle/Source: The Daily Star, 09.01.2012
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