Pay octroi, access health data on the net
S Balakrishnan I TNN
The octroi department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC), the BMC’s biggest revenue earner-last fiscal’s intake was Rs 3,520
crore-is among the civic departments whose services are being computerised.
Mumbaikars will soon be able to make octroi payments online as also
access all records of healthcare provided by municipal hospitals.
Municipal commissioner Johny Joseph said, “We were advised by Tata
Consultancy and other firms to do the computerisation. Our aim is to make
the BMC world class in terms of delivery of services.”
Additional commissioner Shrikant Singh, who is heading the massive
computerisation team, said, “An advanced software called BOSS (Brihanmumbai
Octroi Software System) is in place. It is now functioning in a
decentralised manner. We want to centralise it at the Worli date centre to
ensure better monitoring, control, simplification of the process and
transparency.”
Rajesh Kodnany, whose company is one of the major firms executing the
computerisation project, said the computerisation will allow citizens to
apply for water connections and a host of other services on line. “This will
not only increase the efficiency of the civic staff and lower operating
costs, but also make transactions with the BMC a more pleasant experience,”
he added.
On the health front, the BMC is developing a health care system (HCS)
which will rope in all its hospitals. Each patient will be given a unique ID, making it possible to keep track of the treatment given to him or her. The patients’ entire medical record will also be available to the doctor concerned in a jiffy.
Specialised facilities-like CT or MRI scans-can be booked with the
nearest healthcare centre. “If a patient is transferred to another civic
hospital, then his medical record will be easily available in the second
hospital also,” Singh observed.
Solid waste management services are also being computerised. The fleet
of garbage trucks, which transports 7,500 tonnes of garbage daily, is being
equipped with GPS tracking, making it possible to keep a close watch on
their movements. Computerisation is also being planned at the dumping
grounds, so the exact amount of garbage dumped is known in real time,
reducing scope for corruption.
Joseph noted, “The BMC is the first civic body to implement these
technologies in the country.”
Uddhav Thackeray, executive president of the Shiv Sena, which is
controlling the BMC, said, “We have given full support to the civic
administration since computerisation will ultimately help the average
citizen. A few months down the line, the BMC will not only be more
efficient, but also smart.”
The administration plans to make presentations to corporators so that
they can appreciate the project’s usefulness to citizens. “We will impress
upon them that top technology is being used to benefit the man on the
street,” an official observed.
This is the second in a two-part series on the BMC’s ambitious
computerisation programme