Arunachal Government Offices To Function As E-Offices From 2022: Pema Khandu

All Arunachal Pradesh government offices will function as e-Offices from 2022, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Friday.

Joining an online workshop on e-Office for North Eastern states in Itanagar, Mr Khandu said that the process for digitalization of governance in the state began in 2016 through a cabinet decision, which has been appreciated by the people as transparency and accountability of the departments has been made possible.

"Taking a cue from our Prime Ministers call for Digital India, we have already rolled out e-Office since August 2016. When India celebrates its 75th Independence Day in 2022, we hope to enrol all departments on digital platform," he said during the workshop, which was chaired by DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, a communique from the CMO said.

Mr Khandu welcomed the initiative of the DoNER Ministry to push e-Office in the North East and asserted it is the only way out to curb corruption and red-tapism in governance.

He further said with global pandemic due to Covid-19, effort should be on to minimize the human to human interface as far as possible to contain the spread of virus. He stressed on universalization of use of e-Office across the state in all offices in a concerted manner.

Mr Khandu, however, requested the Centre for consideration of high implementing cost per user and other inevitable costs required towards the implementation of e-Office.

He drew the attention of the ministry towards the difficult terrains and extreme weather conditions of the region that hampers network connectivity, especially in rural areas.

Highlighting the steps taken by the state government in rolling out e-Offices, the chief minister informed that as on date, 11 offices under the Civil Secretariat and five other government establishments have been on-boarded.

The offices includes Administrative Reforms, General Administration, Department of IT and Communication, Transport, Rural Works Dept, Water Resources Dept, Health and Family Welfare, Home, Secretariat Administration, Personnel, Industry and Skill Development (all in the Civil Secretariat) and

Itanagar Municipal Corporation, Smart City Itanagar, Deputy Commissioner (Capital region), Staff Selection Board and State Council for Higher and Technical Education.

More than 1000 officers and officials of Civil Secretariat have been trained to use the E-Office.

"Remaining offices under Secretariat and 22 Directorates will be on-boarded in a time bound manner within one month while in the second phase remaining 45 departments will be on-boarded in 3 months," the chief minister added.

Meanwhile, Mr Khandu expressed gratitude to the DoNER Minister and the Secretary for accepting his proposal to utilize all funds under the North East Special Infrastructure Development (NESID) and NEC schemes in ramping up the healthcare sector for the next two years.

He informed that similarly, the state government would also use loans procured from NABARD in the health sector. "Covid-19 has opened up our eyes. Our main focus will be now to improve our healthcare sector. By the end of next two years, we hope to revamp all our hospitals, including those in the districts," he added.

The online workshop was attended by Chief Ministers of NE states, secretaries of DoNER and NEC, chief secretaries, IT secretaries and NIC officials, the communique added.

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